Excessive Force
by The Original God Mod
Summary: Four friends, four destinies, one conjoined problem. Each representing an aspect of combat, they must achieve their full potential if they are to survive.
1. Chapter 1

Azura frowned. She had to wait two hundred years longer than she expected, thanks to a certain prisoner's death at birth. No matter how much of a threat Dagoth Ur was to the Dunmer, none of the other gods allowed her to change things to protect her first choice as Nerevarine, and thus she had to reincarnate another, and another. Each died at birth, as if someone was manipulating events so that the prophect would be stalled. Even she was blind to what killed the choices she had. That may only happen if the barrier between realms was streghthened at exactly the time of the death, which meant it was a fellow god, or perhaps a demigod. Dagoth Ur was out automatically, if he could block what she saw, he'd have already conqueered the entirety of Resdayn. Vivec was weaker than Dagoth Ur, as were Almalexia and Sotha Sil, not only that, but they would have no reason to stop it, as the Nerevarine was supposed to stop Dagoth Ur. She thought it might be Sheogorath, but Sheogorath had somewhat liked Nerevar's contradictory personality, so he was mostly out, but one could never predict the madgod. The only others she thought might interfere were the Aedra, but none of them really had a purpose to do so, considering the Nerevarine would be a catalyst for the worship of both Aedra and Daedra together, and hopefully stop the hatred between the worshippers. In truth the Aedra and Daedra held no hate for each other, except perhaps Merehunes Dagon, but he hated nearly everyone.

Thus, she was struck with a dilemma. One on hand she could choose an adult to be the Nerevarine, but that would not give their body time to adapt to the soul, or she could bless another without adding the soul of Nerevar to the body. Then she realized the best option at the an already born child! It could work, and she could give the body the soul, probably best to make it so the memories come back slowly as not to torture Nerevar with a time period where he would be weak and helpless, that might drive him to madness. She let a smile grow onto her face. That meant two things, one, he would become even more powerful than before, and that he would not be bound by the prophecy. Of course he should still have to do the main prophecy, mostly to earn the trust of the Dunmer. However, not being bound by the prophecy meant that he could die. She began to look into potential cantidates, preferably those who had not yet been born, and a Dark Elf. The Dunmer were stubborn, and would believe a dark elf outlander than any other race. She then frowned. The only cantidate at the moment would be born in the same town as Akatosh's chosen, Sheogorath's chosen, and even Talos' chosen. That might get complicated. Talos and Akatosh probably did it on purpose, for a reason unknown to even her. Sheogorath probably just wanted to annoy Talos and Akatosh.

The main reason she chose this one was the body had not yet been implanted with a soul, and the body was very similar to Nerevar's old body. That meant that he should be able to adapt and grow very easily, once the full memories were added. However, something disturbed Azura. She couldnt see his future after he was twenty. It was as if he had stopped existing, something that should not happen. That meant man things, none of which were good. Firstly, it meant another Daedra, one more powerful than her, would intervene. That would be a nightmare, unless they helped him. The second most likely thing meant that the false gods would overpower him, but that was highly unlikely. The last thing was even more unlikely. He might ascend like Talos had, but who would willingly make a mortal a god, aside from the Aedra? Considering that Nerevar had never been a worshipper of the Aedra, it seemed highly unlikely, probably impossible. However, she would not be able to see into the mind of the Time God. What made Akatosh different is that he actually had no time, and had no past, or future. To him, it was all the present, meaning that, whil other gods are not affected by time, it still passed, but for Akatosh, time was a mere thought, nothing more, he truly existed outside time.

She ignored that, instead focusing on her own future, only to be shocked when she felt her future self block it. That had never happened before. Sure, she knew she had the ability, but she never had done it before. Instead of seeing her future, she saw a paragrah,almost like a prophecy. Now she was curious, she would have no reason to prophecize herself. As she read the poem, her eye's widened noticably.

"The fallen cannot fall further, but those risen may fall infinitely, and those fallen may rise infinitely.  
Ask yourself, is the future worth looking into? A bleak mass of uninteresting facts, never learning, never changing.  
You must decide, the future or the past, you may only make this choice once, and it will affect all."

If the fact that she had blocked herself had shocked her, this left her floored. The poem made sense in some ways, but none that could happen in a mere twenty years. At the very least, each would take one hundred years seperately, and over a thousand if combined. After a year of pondering, she dismissed it as a future loss at a bet with Sheogorath, probably ending with her loss, and causing her to confuse her past self.

Finally, the soul would be put in the year old child, and none could stop it now, the child may not be protected by prophecy, but he was too close to the other chosen children to die. Her vengeance would finally be at hand!  
_

Merehunes Dagon was certainly not pleased, his plan to take over Nirn had been delayed by over two hundred years due to the interference of Dagoth Ur, who had sent agents to kill chief worshippers of both Aedra and Daedra, mostly the Daedra who might interfere with Dagoth's own plan. That meant Azura, Sheogorath, Merehunes Dagon, Molag Bal, and Talos. Each of them would have their own reasons to interfere, Azura for vengeance, Sheogorath for the sheer hell of it, Merehunes Dagon for his wish to control Nirn, Molag Bal for his love of domination, and Talos for his love of men. Merehunes used to slightly respect Dagoth Ur's powers and the destruction he had caused. He frowned deeply, after all this time, Mankar Cammoran had finally been reincarnated. Since he was not bound by prophecy, his soul had to wait. Fortunately, Merehunes was able to give the reincarnation both Mankar's memories, and his mastery over the Mysterium Xarxes. Mankar Cammoran was a true master of the magics that seperated the realms, and might be able to break it by himself.

Fortunately, the Septim line had ended, unfortunately, Akatosh sacrificed the last Septim to create a barrier to keep the Daedra in their own realms, at least those not as powerful as Sheogorath, or as Free as Azura. Strange how Akatosh trusted Azura, perhaps it was because both of them revolved around time, but that was a thought for later. Right now he had to concentrate on what he should do. He had a choice, as he cared nothing for Mankar's comfort. He was paitent by human standards, but by Daedra standards, he was impatient. The entire future of his soon to be realm depended on Mankar Cammoran. Usually he hated relying on anyone else, but Mankar Cammoran was much like a Human version of himself, manipulating everyone around him to his benefit, and he slightly respected that. He breifly wondered of a way to turn Dagoth's moves against him, and smiled. Perhaps he was looking too low, perhaps he should manipulate someone... higher.

Sheogorath was also having problems, though his was a good problem. The Greymarch hadnt happened when it was supposed to. That meant one of two things, either Jyggalag had seperated himself from Sheogorath, which was implausible, or his curse had been removed, but kept him as Sheogorath. That seemed possible, but unlikely. The other Daedra hated him for his power, and would not give him back his freedom without making it so he was bound to only his own realm, permanently. Fortunately, Sithis favored the madgod, so that would never happen. Instead of allowing the temporary repreive from the greymarch to fill New Sheo with Celebration, he decided to choose a mortal to take his place, unfortunately there were only two who were plausible and wouldnt cause destruction. Madness was not the same as destruction, and any fool who believed it was was not worthy of the title Madman. The first, well, he used to be plausible, then Azura decided to mess with him, so he was out. The other though, he was perfect. His madness clearly reflected Sheogorath's own. His future madness that is. Sheogorath did not have precognition, like Azura and Akatosh, but he could see within the depths of the mind, and he could see the soul would one day become perfectly mad.

"Haskill..." The Madgod smiled. "Sire?" Haskill stared emotionlessly at his master.  
"How long has it been since I have blessed a mortal?" Sheogorath's eyes now clearly gleamed with the madness that he was. "At least two centuries, I believe... You mean.." Haskill's eyes showed the ever so slight widening that came with the reaction to a sudden surprise. Sheogorath just smiled wider.  
_

In Riften, an old woman frowned. She had four new brats to take care of! Four! Her luck was horrible, no one ever adopted these... pig children. They were behaved horribly, and each of them were ungrateful. She hated children, the way they never listened, the way they always broke the rules, how they cost so much to care for. The Jarl had only given her so much to take care of the brats saying that money was tight. Bah! She had seen the gold stored in the treasury personally, there was no shortage in coin, probably thanks to that Thieves Guild. Her eyes widened suddenly. Why hadnt she thought of it before? It was so simple. "I'm going out." She spoke to her assisstant. The children and her assisstant both looked shocked. Grelod usually ordered her assisstant to get supplies, and she never went out before, except to collect the monthly sallary for the orphanage.

Grelod made her way down to the ratway, ignoring the dirt in favor of hiding from the protectors of the ragged flaggon. She did an excellent job and made it in less than thirty minutes. As she walked towards the prospering Thieves Guild, she smirked. Soon she would be rich. As she approached, she recognized some of the members as merchants in the town, in the few times she went out. "I need to speak with your leader, I have a proposal." She doubted they would mind, after all, she was a known civilian, an old woman, in no shape to stage an assassination, and to top it all off, she was surrounded by members.

"I am he." A dark haired man stepped forward. He looked rather strong, and somewhat mysterious, but his voice was filled with authority and wisdom. She subconciously straightened her posture. This was not a man to be cheated, so she would make a truly fair deal.

"I have too many children to feed." She stated, hoping he would get the idea.  
"And?" He raised his eyebrow, wanting to make sure he guessed right.  
"Some of them may have potential as either thieves, or assassins, I'm sure you get the idea." Grelod spoke.  
The man seemed to ponder on it, but nodded. "I can supply them until the age of five, if none of them show any signs of stealth or skill by that time, I am afraid we will not be able to supply you any longer. I trust you know what happens when we are betrayed." Oh how right he was, she had been there when the only merchant in town who dared to betray the guild was slaughtered by a dark brotherhood member. It was obvious that they worked in tangent.

"I may be a cheater, but I am no liar." Grelod said. Surprisingly, the Guild Master Believed her. "we have a deal, five thousand for each apprentice level, six for each journeyman level, eight for each expert, and fifteen for each master. After we train them, we will judge them, and if they meet our requirements, you will get your gold, now go." He told her of how to get out the secret entrance, but left out how to get in. He was no fool, and these children would help both guilds prosper.  
_

Kodlak was rather mournful at the moment. His wife to be had died, and right before they were to be married. He knew she would die one day from that strange sickness she had, but he never thought it would be so soon. Preparing himself for the eventualy death of his love had done nothing to improve his feeling. He sighed with sadness. Right now he needed to take the pain away, something to focus on. He thought about perhaps delving into work more, but dismissed that thought, that might make him too vengeful, and filled with hate. He needed a positive destraction, one that didnt involve killing things. He decided to ask for his father's advice, seeing as he had dealt with the same problem before. He walked to his family's small home, the only place other than Jorrvaskr he could call a home. He knocked lightly on the door, just enough to make sure his father heard, but not enough to knock down the door. He had done that when he first got lycanthropy.

His father was a wise man, as were most in his family. He opened the door and smiled as he saw his son. "Kodlak, what can I do for you my boy?" He hadnt heard news of his love's death yet then.  
"I need advice..." Kodlak spoke, showing the mournful tone.  
His father's smile vanished. "come inside."

After explaining the situation and asking for what could ease his pain, Kodlak's father nodded. " I see... Kodlak.. do you know why your mother died?"  
Kodlak nodded. "The preist told me... she died from a heart attack, stress related he said."  
"Kodlak... she died because of the stress of being unable to get pregnant." Seeing his son's confusion, he continued. "You are adopted."  
"I... I see... why didnt you tell me before?" Kodlak asked.  
"You didnt have a reason to know, you were still our son, you still are. But before you wouldnt have understood, and we were scared you might not accept us... We adopted you from Honorhall Orphanage."  
Kodlak rose his head, eyes steel hard. "did it help the pain... having a son?"  
His father nodded with a small smile. "It eased the pain, not much at first, but soon I began to see her in you, her stubborn but wise spirit... Thats why I never told you, we may not be blood, but in spirit you are family."  
Kodlak smiled slightly. "I... I think I'm going to adopt."  
His father frowned slightly. "now now, I think you might want to wait. I suggest you wait until some, or most of the pain subsides, otherwise you may hurt the child."  
Kodlak's eyes widened. He would never hurt a child, that was a sin only for the dark brotherhood, and even then it was rare. "you are right... in my pain I forgot to think things through... I shall wait, until I can think clearly, until I am truly sure."  
His father smiled. "This is a big decision, take your time, let the child you want grow until he can speak, it is hell trying to get a child to learn to speak." He joked, attempting to lighten the mood.  
Kodlak smiled lightly. "yes, and Im guessing teaching them to use the bathroom was easy." He chuckled. It was a hollow chuckle, he couldnt laugh a real laugh so soon after all.  
His father shuddered. "nightmarish" A smile appeared on his face. "I really have taught you well Kodlak... I hope you can lead the Companions to glory someday. When we meet in Sovrngarde, youd better be the Harbinger!"  
Kodlak's smile widened slightly. "how soon?"  
"three years they said." His father accepted it, no use crying over that. It would hurt, sure, but no use crying over it, his father would be happy in Sovrngarde, waiting to meet him.  
"Then we best make the best of these three years."  
_

It had been five years since then, and Grelod had been making games for the children. She would hide things, small unnoticable things, like rings, sometimes even a note, and make the kids find it, first kid to find it would be given extra food. With the money from the Guild, she didnt have to worry about starving the children. She was slightly less harsh to the children, of course she still yelled, and sometimes even beat the children, but when they won they got a reprieve from the beatings. So far, four stood out above the rest. Two were very sneaky, one was named Aidan Kenta, the other was Kenji Nakamura. They occasionally got into challenges where they would try to steal something from the other, and she encouraged it. If either of these children could make even Journyman level, she would be filthy rich, and she could retire and let her assisstant deal with the brats.

However she noticed the two others were developing in their own way. One, Kurokon Shikyo, was incredibly fast, and even more intelligent. Often he talked to her assisstant, only getting along with the other three children that he grew to be friends with. The second, Alex Ruler, was monsterously strong, and had damn good aim to. She encourage both of them, hoping the Dark Brotherhood would take them, but recently the brotherhood had been more and more about stealth rather than strength. She briefly wondered in the fighters and mages guild would buy them, but that idea was cut out by the fighters guild's so called honor, and the mages guild's stiff age policy. She would have to tone down her greed for now.

One great thing for her was that the four of them were friends, nearly inseperable, actually. Kuro was a dunmer, definitely smart and crafty enough to be a thief, but more suited to be a mage, she could tell that, hell anyone could. Without instruction, he had cast a healing spell after one of her beatings. Alex, on the other hand, was a nord and would be perfect for a warrior, perhaps a "bouncer" for the guild. Kenji, another nord, would no doubt be an assassin, he had little morality, and had beaten one of the children who insulted him once. Aidan however, was the perfect thief. He was able to pick locks without any trouble, and could hide from her whenever he wanted. Not just that, but the brat was able to talk his way out of nearly anything. Kurokon was similar to him in that aspect, but while Kurokon argued with logic, Aidan was able to persuade someone with emotion, as if instinctively born to be the best possible thief.

Today was finally the day, the day that the guild would inspect them! She just hoped she could convince them into taking all four of them. There were other cantidates of course, but none worth nearly as much as the four. She waited until midday before walking to the center of the city. The second in command should be there. A woman, a Dunmer woman. She looked rather young, but that might just be because she was an elf, and they lived longer. She spoke to her for a few moments, before bringing her back to the orphanage. After sending the kids off to dinner, she asked the woman to hide something in the room as best as she could. The woman showed genuine surprise, but complied. She hid a small wooden cylinder under a bed, letting the bars under the bed keep it from falling and being obvious.

After calling the children back in the room and explaining to them that the winner of this game in specific would be very well rewarded, she and the dunmer woman backed off. They watched, and waited. They were surprised when two children found the cylinder at the same time and began fighting over it. Aidan and Kenji were tugging at each end. If it were anyone else Kenji might have been truly punching and kicking, but this was one of his friends. Of course he would fight Alex and Kuro, mostly because Alex was stronger than him, and Kuro had incredible reflexes, but Aidan was the only one he could never bring himself to hurt. Maybe it was because he had a true sense of innocence in his eyes, not just the innocence of a child, but true innocence, as if his soul had never committed a crime. Grelod stepped between them and grabbed the rod, realizing it was supposed to be the hilt of a sword. "Enough, you both win." With that, all eyes turned to the two.

The Dunmer woman stepped forward. "Indeed, you both show great skill." Kenji beamed at this, loving the attention, while Aidan shrunk back, a bit nervous around the new woman. "Unfortunately we only have enough funds for one." At that Grelod frowned. "and what of our deal?"  
"It will be honored, but at the moment our organization is having a bit of trouble, one of our long time allies has turned traitor, and is attempting to disrupt business. However, the Brotherhood should be happy to take one off your hands. Here in skyrim, they are also having trouble, they have... some disputes between themselves, lets just leave it at that." Grelod frowned. "very well... If I may suggest, perhaps your organization could prosper in Morrowind, I hear the economy there is much better than here, consider the Great war didnt touch them, its very likely that they wont notice a few missing things, though you might have competition there."  
The dunmer woman looked like she was thinking for a moment. "I'll discuss it, if it helps us, expect to be compensated, and asked for further advice in the future."

Grelod seemed to accept it, and was less hostile than before. "which one?" The dunmer studied the two for a moment before smirking. "You, imperial boy, come here." At her command, Aidan slowly trudged forward, nervous from all the attention. "perfect" Grelod nodded. "I figured you'd choose him, the other seems to be more fitting of an assassin, would you mind sending for..." She trailed off, knowing the thief would understand.

"of course, and as I said, expect us to do business again soon." She stared at the boy, before smiling and looking at the others in the room. She stopped on Alex, she had seen those eyes before. They were honorable, perhaps a bit prideful, but not too much, just enough to have a true sense of honor, perfect for the companions. She turned and looked into Kenji's eyes. Now those eyes she knew. Those were definitely the eyes of an assassin, strong, a fierce will, no mercy. Strange though, he seemed to not have the usual hatred and anger that an assassin would. She turned and looked into Kurokon's eyes. Those were certainly the eyes of a powerful mage, but there was something more... She turned once more, this time to a normal child, before her eyes widened. She realized why she had focused on those four. "...blessed..." She shooked her head, that didnt matter, rather, it made this business deal even more profitable. "I'll tell the Brotherhood right away." She left with Aidan, who was looking at his three friends with regret.  
_

It wasnt a month before Kenji vanished, replaced with a large pile of gold and a note. As Grelod read the note, she frowned. Even the Dark Brotherhood was having economic trouble here in skyrim, so they could only spare five thousand. Fortunately, it was enough to sate her lust for gold. She never knew just how stupid an idea it was to sell Kenji off until it was too late...

It was just another average day for the children, so when a knock came from the door, most stopped to look. When Grelod opened the door, she expected another child to be forced upon her. However to see the legendary Harbinger of the companions standing there in all his glory was not what she expected. "Hello... Why is someone with such status as your own here?"

"Why to adopt of course." Kodlak spoke as if it were obvious, of course he probably didnt no that no one ever adopted these children, except those secrets dealings. "uh.. very well, right this way." Grelod directed him to a private area so the children wouldnt interupt. "What kind of child are you looking for?"  
"preferably old enough to speak, someone strong, a possible Companion one day, if not its fine." Kodlak spoke. After his father died, he decided to adopt, mostly because he wanted to continue the legacy of his family, and considering he was the last of his family, and his only love had died, this was a last resort. He probably wouldnt have had to, but someone had assassinated his only living relative not long after his father died.

Grelod thought about it for a mere moment before deciding who would be perfect. "I think I know which one would be perfect." In tamriel was hardly a place to be nice about orphans, especially considering all the wars and deaths. It was treated as a normal business deal, even by the kind hearted like Kodlak. "Alex!" Alex was a blonde short haired nord boy, strong and perfect for the Companions. Alex walked into the area, but stopped and looked at Kodlak. Kodlak matched the stare. For a brief moment, Grelod was worried Alex had insulted Kodlak in some way, until Kodlak smiled. "whats your name?"

"Alex Ruler." His language skills were obviously good, considering most children had difficulty pronouncing letters such as ls, rs, and xs. He had that same fire in his eyes that Kodlak had looked for in potential Companions. Kodlak smiled. It was rare that the Companions trained children, unless their parents were also companions. "why do you want to know old man?" Kodlak cracked a smirk. He certainly did have a fire in him if he could stand before him and call him an old man, regardless of how true it was.

Grelod frowned at the disrespect, but had never been able to get it out of Alex. In all honesty she was slightly scared of him. Alex had broken a few things accidentily, most often anything wooden, glass, or generally not metal. She wasnt stupid enough to believe a feeble old woman could get away with beating a child strong enough to break wood by accident. She always wondered if perhaps Alex was a half vampire like those stories she had heard. "Alex, be nice" She tried to sound like a scolding mother, mostly to keep up appearences for Kodlak. Alex grumbled something under his breath. Kodlak just smiled. "Perfect" Grelod was genuinely surprised, but glad. Alex was hectic and hard to keep under her control.

After Kodlak finished the paperwork, and Alex said goodbye to his friends still in the orphanage, Grelod began to laugh, scaring the children. Only Kuro was left out of the four orphans who could stand up to her, and Kuro never reacted when he was hit, only if his friends were. The brat's eyes were scary, she'd give him that. Strange how the kid seemed so playful with the others, but always seemed to hate her. It was as if he understood who she was. Those eyes threatened to break her will. The other's eyes still had some depth of innocence, but Kuro had the eyes of a demon, at least to her. She knew of his... visions, and his rather strange trances he often went into. They were horrifying to her, but the children seemed not to notice. It was as if all his malice was directed at her. _

It had been seven years, and Kuro still hadnt been adopted. He mostly stayed to himself, so she was somewhat calmed. Kuro had grown silent and hostile towards her, his strange trances became more often, until suddenly they stopped. After that, Kuro rarely spoke.

Eventually, Kuro got in a bit of trouble, after another orphan decided to try to bully him out of his supper. Considering the orphan now had a broken arm, she had to punish Kuro. She decided this was it, she was going to beat him like she did with the others, to hell with him thinking he is immune to her wrath. She told him to wait in her room, and he complied. She decided to use her block of wood on him, to make sure the lesson got through to him.

"How dare you break another brat's arm! I have to pay for the damage you little brat!" She swung the block down on his head, crashing him to the ground, blood pooling. "And now thanks to you I have to clean this up!" She slammed the bar into his chest, hearing the crack of at least three ribs. She was about to swing again when he brought his hand up, stopping the bar. No matter how she tried, she could not wrestle it from his grip. It was a tense moment until he rose his blood soaked head to look at her. The blood dripping from his face gave him a horrifyingly intimidating look, even as a twelve year old. Then she looked into his eyes and wished she hadnt. She had become used to the eyes of a dark elf for him, but these eyes were red, with gold pupils and white outsides.

As soon as she saw those eyes, time began to slow down. Kuro's grip crushed the block halfway, and she saw him moving faster than anything she had seen before. He saw a peice of shrapnel, a very sharp one. His usually impassive face cracked a sadistic grin. He grabbed the shrapnel and slammed it into her throat, with her moving too slow to do anything. His eyes faded back to normal, only he now had gold pupils. Once he saw Grelod bleeding to death, he looked shocked at what he had done, before he ran out. He kept running, and kept running. He was long gone before anyone noticed. He ran too fast for anyone to keep up other than the guards, and with the war going on, they didnt think a single child was worth the risk of abandoning their posts. Ironic how their actions contradicted the very rules of the one they were fighting to worship.

Kuro ran until he could run anymore, through the mountains, through forests, over lakes. He finally stopped to breathe and think about what had happened, only to realize it was nighttime. "what?... I know Ive always been faster and stronger than the others, but not this much... what is happening to me?" Kuro frowned. He looked at the nearby river and decided to clean himself, it wouldnt do if someone found a child covered in blood. As he did so, he recalled the vivid images Azura had shown him, how to use magic, how to fight, how to read people, and best of all how to manipulate emotions. He had seen the images, videos rather, through some great warrior's view. He could recall each conversation, but the warrior's name was always silenced out. As if he simply wasnt ready to hear it. He shrugged off the thoughts and got dressed. He needed to find a place to rest, if not sleep. He rarely slept anymore, usually only up to three or four hours, sometimes not at all. It didnt affect him much other than the overwhelming boredom that he constantly had. Thankfully Azura had sent him interesting scenes in his mind, usually involving the great warrior. The one he last had involved someone called Vivec, Ur, and Lorkhan. That was the only time the image came blurry. He couldnt see faces, only shapes. However four things were burned into his mind. A small hammer called Sunder, a dagger called Keening, a glove called Wraithguard, and a strange glowing heart, not human, but not inhuman. Kuro soon found a cave and crawled in, using his shirt as a pillow to keep his neck from getting stiff. Then he shook from another memory hitting him, this one of some war, a horrible and bloodly battle, followed by betrayl and pain.  
_

In whiterun, a blonde nord boy was training with a red haired girl a bit older than him. Both of them were using bows, and with little results. Each time either one of them shot an arrow, the other's arrow hit it, knocking both out of the air. "come on Aela, you can do better than that!" The blond boy taunted. Aela growled before pulling out three arrows and shooting them all at once. The top arrow flew in the air, the middle flew straight at the boy's chest, and the bottom flew at the boy's feet. "oh now that's better!" The boy taunted once more, before twirling his bow, sending the second arrow at the one in the air, and smacking the bottom one away. "Ha! Take... that." The boy stopped seeing Aela had her sword pointed right at his chest. "damnit" He hung his head.

"Maybe next time Alex, good match though. You need to learn to divide your focus between your surroundings and your enemy." Aela smirked. Alex saw Aela as a sister after being adopted by Kodlak and raised. Kodlak let him add White-mane to his name, but also let him keep Ruler, something that made him rather happy. Aela was like a scolding older sister, always pushing him to do his best. He hadnt yet been given a trial, but he knew it was soon. He loved living with Kodlak, he was much nicer than Grelod. He never told anyone about her, probably because he was worried for Kuro. He knew that Aidan and Kenji were fine, sometimes they even sent letters, as did Kuro, but his had stopped a little more than three months ago. Alex was worried, Kuro was the less confrontational than him or Kenji, only Aidan was less violent. Kuro threatened people more than anything, he always followed through with them, but after the first few times, people learned. He shook his head. He had seen Kuro practice magic, he knew that Kuro could take care of himself if it came down to it, but he still had a worrying feeling.

Speaking of Aidan, he had been granted a few weeks off after the last heist he did. Infact, first thing Aidan did was find Alex and catch up. Sure the letters kept them in touch, but some things you can only say in person. Aidan was actually watching nearby. Aidan didnt mind saying what he did, but he left the details of it out, saying that Karliah told him to do so, even to those he trusts most. Alex didnt care much for the details anyway. He accepted long ago that Aidan was a thief and Kenji was an assassin. Both worked hard, and their jobs made them work hard, so Alex had no problems with it. Though, he did have to admit, he was a bit worried for Kenji's sanity. Kodlak didnt mind Aidan staying with them, since Alex never told him that Aidan worked for the thieves guild. Kenji however, became a known assassin. Not widely know, but the upper tiers, such as the Archmage, the Harbinger, the Jarls, and the Guard Captains knew of him. Fortunately they had yet to put out a bounty on him. That didnt help him score points on Kodlak's point of view.

Kodlak walked towards Alex. "Boy, Skjor has your trial, he's in Jorrvaskr waiting for you." Alex nodded and ran off to meet Skjor. Aela sighed. "When he is fully grown, he will be more powerful than I can imagine... might even have a new Ysgramor on our hands, being able to react so fast to my arrows, and get all three. He just needs more focus, if he can learn to focus, he might very well become the youngest harbinger ever." Kodlak smiled sadly and nodded. "did you notice?"  
Aela frowned. "I have, but I dont know what caused it."  
Kodlak chuckled. "He'll have strong allies one day..."  
"The companions always stick together" Aela stated confusedly.  
"It's not the companions Im speaking of." Kodlak smiled, ignoring the even more confused look and walking away.  
_

Kenji was loving his life. He got to see Alex a few times, mostly when he traveled through whiterun. He saw Aidan every week, but Kuro had vanished. It wasnt surprising considering he heard news of Kuro killing Grelod. Kenji had helped the dark brotherhood a lot. Within a few years, he had refined his skills so that he was now one of the more skilled assassins. Babbette was one of his friends, he cared little that she was a vampire, and actually asked her if he could become one. She denied him of course, telling him to wait until he was grown, otherwise it would be a terrible existence. Being twelve forever would be horrible. Kenji felt rather embarrassed he hadnt thought about that. He got along with Nasir and Gabriel, but the others tended to ignore him.

He enjoyed the lifestyle. He missed his friends though. He was rather excited when Cicero came, even if he did bring the corpse of some old lady. Kenji didnt know much about the religion behind the Dark Brotherhood, he just murdered when they told him to. He found it fun and loved the bonuses that came with it. When he wasnt murdering someone, he was training. He often traveled to riften and went to the thieves guild, sometimes to sell off some stolen things, but mostly to see Aidan. The leaders of the guild, and the brotherhood encouraged them to do so, it would produce closer ties between the two organizations after all. He usually tried to train Aidan to use blades, but Aidan was horrible, and usually ended up cutting himself. Aidan, in turn, tried to teach Kenji how to pick locks. Unfortunately he was worse at picking locks than he was at flying, and seeing that he couldnt fly...

For the most part, he was happy. He missed being able to walk out in the street without having people eye him suspiciously, but the armor he work kept most people wary. Fortunately, the guards had no proof for anything he had done, so he was able to walk around without being arrested, though with the money he made, he wouldnt mind paying any bounty if just to shut people up. He once had to go to the thieves guild for help on a bounty, but that was just because he accidently got caught stealing an enchanted hammer. He loved the hammer, but he wasnt able to wield it just yet, so he kept it in storage. He also got some enchanted arrows, and he used them in each assassination. He soon learned how to enchant his own arrows so he wouldnt run out. He was living the good life.  
_

Aidan, much like the others, was loving his life. Sure sometimes he hated how hard the guild worked him, but he loved doing it. It came naturally to him, as if he was a master. Not litteraly of course, otherwise the guild would be on the rise instead of decline. It was fortunate the Gray Fox had stopped by and leant a hand, if he hadnt set up clients and informants, the guild might not even be standing. He looked up to the gray fox, and the local Guildmaster, Karliah. He knew she wasnt always guildmaster, but he never asked, thinking it might upset her. He still remembered Grelod's response to asking questions. He was still that child who could take his way out of hell itself if he wanted to.

At first, he didnt know the value of things, but after a few months he began to catch on. Karliah called him her best investment. He was pretty sure she meant it nicer than it sounded. She was like a mother to him, many of the members felt like older siblings to him, especially one called Brynjolf. He was a few years older than Aidan, but they got along great. Aidan was noticably humble and a lot less greedy than the other thieves. He never stole from anyone who was barely surviving on their own, and outright refused any job that stole from the poor. The Gray Fox actually complimented him on that, and scolded the rest of the guild.

In that time he learned a great deal of tricks, and he managed to pick up a few tricks. He was great at hand to hand, restoration, and especially sneaking. Vex would often challenge him to competitions to see who could sneak better. Vex won more often than not, but he was getting better. He was great at lockpicking, but he still had a lot to learn. He was at least a journyman level thief, probably higher, but he was still young, and anything could change in a flash with teens. That was probably why most of the guild didnt trust him. Regardless of all that, he was living a rather happy life. Who knew being a thief could be so much fun?


	2. Chapter 2

"Empires rise and fall, your petty wars are meaningless to beings like myself..."  
_

General Tulius had a strange sense of humor, but not many knew it, only those he worked close with. Namely, Legates, Generals, and the Commander. The Emperor might, but he never understood military matters, so he didnt communicate with Tulius much, just giving some vague orders and letting Tulius decide how to deal with the problems. Tulius might have been even more overworked and serious if the Commander himself hadnt come to Skyrim recently. The Commander was a mage, and had challenge the previous commander to a duel and won. Tulius wish he could have seen it. The previous Commander had been strong, but paranoid, always hiding in Ebonheart saying that his job was to protect the Duke, and that the threat of Dagoth Ur kept him from traveling to Skyrim. Ironically, if he hadnt stayed in Morrowind so long, the new Commander wouldnt have had the chance to challenge him. Tulius rather liked the new Commander, regardless of how young he was. Yes the Commander was only Seventeen, but appearently he fought like he was a trained warrior, as if he was a war hero. He heard rumors that the Commander had been trained by Psijics, but ignored them, it didnt matter who trained him, only that he was on their side. Originally the rank was "Knight of the Imperial Dragon" but it was changed after the Septim Dynasty. The Commander was still called Knight of the Imperial Dragon by most who were not in the legion, and in morrowind. Technically his title was Knight of the Imperial Dragon, while his rank was Commander. Commander went better with his name anyway.

Tulius had recently come up with a brilliant plan, a fake bombing in Windhelm should send Ulfric scurrying. They had spies who knew his escape routes, so setting up a trap would be easy. Tulius asked the Commander's opinion, and he was not only in agreement with the plan, he asked to view the event. That made Tulius excited. If this plan suceeded he may very well be a war hero by the end of the week. Tulius was ecstatic when it worked. Ulfric was in their captivity, and his most important generals were as well.

Tulius was originally going to send them down to the Imperial City to be publicly executed, but the Commander pointed out that it would be safer for them to stop in a small town, as it would be unexpected, faster, and harder for them to escape. So Tulius agreed and set the path for Helgen, the closest settlement. It had a small population, less than a hundred, but more than fifty. It would be perfect.  
_

Aidan was not having a good day. His first mess up as Guildmaster had been to accept the most insane job in the world. Appearently someone was willing to pay five thousand gold for Ulfric's Bracers. He didnt bother to listen to the man tell him of some absurd legend that he probably made up to get his idol's bracer's. It was supposed to be a normal job, a bit wierd, but he had done stranger. Instead, he had been told to help escort Ulfric out of the city. That should have made the job even easier, but then he saw that Ulfric was surrounded by other soliders. Fortunately, they guessed that he was a servant of some kind, and forced him to come along. He realized it was stupid to disguise himself as a servant now, but it, like everything else that turned the job to shit, was supposed to make it easier. Hell, he didnt know how, but Alex had even been dragged along. The most likely thing was that Alex was signing up for the Stormcloaks. That seemed unlikely, but it made sense. Alex did not particularly care for Talos, but he did hate any laws that restricted what people could do, especially racial laws. Another idea might have been that he was sent to find that murderer he had heard about, but usually guards didnt call upon the Companions for such tasks, but with the war going on, it made sense. Alex was actually sitting in the same cart, which was a small miracle, but to make things even stranger, Kenji had somehow been captured. Appearently someone had needed someone in Windhelm killed, but to send the Listener himself for that? Maybe the Brotherhood was doing worse than he heard.

It was a larger than average cart, three people could fit on each side, to his right was Alex, and on the other side was Kenji. Infront of him a blonde nord, obviously a stormcloak by the armor, was talking to someone sitting next to him. He didnt care for it much, trying to figure out a way to escape, and save Kenji and Alex at the same time. He decided to speak up.

"We arent stormcloaks, they wont do anything to us right?" There was a faint sound of hope in his voice.  
The nord accross from him laughed. "They'll assume you are stormcloaks just like us, just trying to hide it by ditching your armor. Imperials dont have mercy, they cant afford to in a war." He was refering to how weakened the legion was after the Great War. "Plus I hear this new Commander is here, I doubt he has much value of human life, especially towards anyone not like him. Damn mages... Damn Dark elves!" Ralof sighed.

Alex growled. "One of our friends was a dark elf, and a mage, so back off! Ive seen how you in windhelm treat anyone who isnt a nord, dont talk to me about not valuing human life towards different types of people than yourself." That was a sight, the Harbinger was usually relaxed and calm, but mention of his old friend, and he turned into a ticking time bomb.

Ralof frowned. "I spoke out of turn, I didnt mean to offend, its just my hate for the imperials, I dont hate any specific race, I just hate the Empire." It was a half-apology half-explanation, and Alex was barely calmed by it.

Alex turned awat from the nord, unable to stand the sight of him for now, even if he was sincere. Aidan just sighed. Kenji frowned, but didnt speak. It was a tense ride to Helgen.

When the finally stopped, and got off, they were asked to come forward one at a time by a Legate.

"Ulfric Stormcloak of Windhelm." The calm nord that stood next to the legate spoke. Ulfric decided to go gracefully and walked forward, before turning towards the crowd around the executioner's area. "Ralof of Riverwood." It was obvious from the tone that the two nords once knew each other. Ralof went just as calmly as Ulfric.  
"Lokir of Rorikstead." This was where it got both sad and humorous. Lokir walked forward slightly, but stopped and shouted about not being a stormcloak before running off. Poor bastard thought he could outrun an arrow.  
"and.. who are you three?" Hadvar asked.

"I am Alex Ruler, Harbinger of the Companions."  
"I am Aidan Kenta" He couldnt reveal his identity as the Guildmaster yet, not until they were respected as an organization.  
"I am Kenji Nakamura" He wouldnt have minded revealing his identity, if he wasnt about to get executed.

"Captain what should we do? They arent on the list" Hadvar obviously wanted to let them go.  
"Send them to the block." The Captain responded emotionlessly.

Alex was about to break his restraints by transforming into a werewolf, but then an armored figure stepped towards the Captain. For a tense moment, the Captain stared at the figure in horror, then, the figure's clawed glove stabbed forward into the Captain's throat. Hadvar stared shocked. "C-commander!" He saluted hastily. Alex blinked, and tamed his instincts, though he might have to transform tonight, he wouldnt turn just yet.

"At ease." The Commander looked down at the body and shock his head. "I have no need for murderous savages in this army, and yet you were willing to sentence three men to death even after our lists of stormcloak names proved them to not be rebels? Foolish." The Commander turned towards the group of friends. "I apologize that you had to see that, now, may I ask your names?"

"Alex Ruler." "Aidan Kenta." "Kenji Nakamura."

"...G-guys?" The commander lowered the hood he had on, which hid his head. They watched the hood fall and were surprised that the legendary Commander was a young man, as young as them by the look of it. He was a dark elf, a tall one, taller than most people, even nords and high elves. "Holy pig testicles, I thought Id never see you again, its been a while since we last talked, hasnt it?" He had dark red hair, a scar under his left eye, and the strangest thing of all, he had gold pupils and the outsides of his eyes were white, unlike any dark elf they had seen before.

"Kuro?" Alex asked, recognized the golden pupils. Kuro now stood taller than Alex, but Alex was a bit short for a nord. Alex had changed over the years, his once medium blond hair had been shortened to less than an inch long, he was taller, and he certainly appeared stronger. Alex was wearing a full set of wolf armor, the normal companion armor.

Kuro turned to Aidan, and chuckled. Aidan had on his nightingale armor, only with the mask and hood lowered, allowing his black hair to shine. Aidan had grown taller, shorter than Alex, but taller than most imperials. He had obviously grown stronger, he obviously finally learned how to use weapons, probably long blades by the look of it.

Kenji was definitely the most changed. He was taller than Alex now. He was wearing Daedric armor, probably just because he liked the way it looked. He wore a small crown with a black gem in the middle. The crown was thin, like a band until it reached the front. His brown hair was cut somewhat long for a male, but not irritatingly long.

"Well sorry, but I have to preside over this execution, your stuff should be in the Keep, from the scene I made, everyone should know you are free. And just bust out of your bindings already, I know you can." Kuro smirked, before walking off towards the executioning area, right by General Tulius. Alex, Aidan, and Kenji made their way to the Keep, with no interference from any soldiers, mostly due to the scene Kuro had made, and his statements of them being friends.

Alex reached into the chest which was marked evidence. "lets see... Flame enchanted Ebony Dagger." He handed the dagger to Kenji, who happily attached it to his leg. "Frost enchanted Elven Arrows, Stamina draing daedric war hammer, and a standard bow... Where do you put all this Kenji?" Kenji shrugged as he attached the rest of his items to his back. "Alright, here are my bow and arrows, and my short sword." He hooked his personal items onto his body, and glanced at Aidan. "Umbra, Lockpick made of Ebony, black poisoned throwing dart, and a potion of invisibility." He handed the items to Aidan, and stood up. "well lets just wait here for Kuro, he'll probably expect it." Aidan nodded, while Kenji shrugged. _

Kuro was rather shocked when the dragon interupted the execution, saving Ulfric by knocking the executioner over. Kuro had been momentarily stunned by the shouting dragon, enough for Ulfric to run off towards the tower. He grinned. If it was a chase he wanted, it was a chase he would get. Kuro bent his back like a werewolf and ran towards the tower where the dragon had just broke through the wall. He was a second too late, and lost track of Ulfric. He frowned and ran towards where the dragon had just landed. He jumped infront of the wounded man just as the dragon was about to breathe out fire. As soon as he felt the heat, he spread his arms out and put up a fire shield, blocking the fire from affecting him or the wounded man. He frowned, that fire had been stronger than he expected, and he actually felt some of his magicka go down. Usually with such simple spells, he barely noticed his magicka pool going down, especially after he gained the full memories of Nerevar.

The dragon took off, and Hadvar ran towards him. "Sir, what should I do?"

Kuro frowned, but then turned. He saw Ulfric, out of the corner of his eye, head in the second entrance to the Keep. "We are leaving, I trust Tulius to be able to get most of us out, but if Ulfric escapes this will all have been for nothing. Would you rather stay here to help Tulius?" Kuro asked, jogging towards the Keep. Hadvar followed without speaking. "Tulius!" General Tulius turned to him. "We saw Ulfric escape, we'll meet you back in solitude, just try to get everyone to hide away from anything flamable until the dragon goes away." He shouted to the General, who nodded, that was his plan anyway.  
_

Alex, Kenji and Aidan had been waiting, and had been surprised when Kuro entered the Keep, followed by Hadvar. Kuro looked rather vexed at the moment. "Theres a dragon outside." He stated calmly. Then they all heard a loud crash. "And appearently the bastard barricaded us in. Hadvar, is there another way out?" Hadvar nodded and opened the gate. "Come on guys, lets get out of here." They all followed behind Hadvar, since he knew the way. "So what happened to you guys while I was in Morrowind?" He might have told them he was now a blades agent, and was only in Skyrim because Caius told him he could take two months off, considering Caius needed time to research and think over the new things, but he didnt think it was the time. It was already two weeks into his little vacation.

Alex chuckled. "You wouldnt believe, Kodlak stepped down due to his old age, and losing an arm... I wish we could have done something, but no use weeping over the past, eh?" He was glad Kodlak had lived, but still sad that he lost an arm. Kodlak said that he also stepped down because someone better had come along, but Alex wanted that to be a private praise instead of bragging about it. "The Companions have been like a family to me over the years. Ive loved it really."

Kenji smirked. "After a while, some joker named Cicero joined my family, after that I began to listen. The head of the family got a bit jealous and betrayed the entire family though." He frowned. It was only him, Babbette, and Nasir who had survived. Sure, they now had more members than ever, but none of them were from the original family. He knew Kuro would understand, since he told him of his job via letters before Grelod had died. "by the way, did you kill Grelod?"

Kuro nodded. Aidan chuckled. "Bitch deserved it." Kuro, Alex, and Kenji stopped to stare at Aidan. "what?"

"You never cuss..." Kenji said. Aidan rolled his eyes. "you act like she doesnt deserve the title." Kuro shrugged, Alex chuckled lightly, while Kenji just kept staring. They kept walking.

Hadvar suddenly stopped them. "ssh.. hear that? stormcloaks, maybe we can reason with them." Hadvar suggested to Kuro. Kuro nodded. Hadvar pulled the chain to open the gate, and Kuro walked through, the others not far behind him. "Easy guys, we need to negotiate a truce with Ulfric, take us to him."

The stormcloaks were hesitant to attack, since there were only two stormcloaks, Ralof, and some girl. "we dont know where he went, we would, but we dont know where he went, we only followed him in here, I couldnt find him."

The female charged at Hadvar "To hell with a truce, you imperials need to die!" She was about to slash him, until Aidan parried the blade and stabbed her sword arm's shoulder. She'd live, but she wouldnt fight anymore. Ralof sighed. "Sonya, stand down, they are our only chance for finding Jarl Ulfric, besides right now we have a dragon to worry about, and I dont think its on either of our sides, both Jarl Ulfric and General Tulius were shocked when they saw it."

Kuro looked slightly impressed. "very observant, even the Thalmor were shocked at its appearence, so that rules them out. Its very likely the dragon is on its own side, if that is the case a truce would be best. Now lets try to find him before he finds a bear, or worse, a dragon." Ralof nodded, thought the woman was angry and injured, she followed Ralof, trailing beside Alex.

Soon they came across a storm room. They were all rather surprised to find Ulfric, a large peice of wood sticking out his side, leaning on a wall. "here to finish me off?" He spoke to Kuro, not seeing the stormcloaks. He didnt back away when Kuro came close and pulled the wood out, only letting a cry of pain out. He was rather surprised when Kuro and Aidan began healing his wounds. He eventually was healed enough to stand and did so. "why did you heal me? We are enemies."

Kuro smiled sadly at him. "A warrior should die in battle, dont you agree?" Ulfric was shocked at the answer. He heard that the Commander was a mage, and a corrupt murderer. Of course, he had heard it through stormcloaks, so he knew it was rather onesided view of things, but still, they didnt lie that often. "I dont think we've been introduced, I am Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak, leader of the Stormcloaks." He stuck out a hand for Kuro to shake.

Kuro smirked and shook his hand. "I am Kurokon Shikyo, Commander of the Legion, and Agent for the Blades." He wouldnt have said that, but he knew that Ulfric wouldnt exactly go to the Thalmor with that information, and no one would believe him, while he trusted his friends, and Hadvar. "pleasure to meet you."

Ulfric smirked back. "Same here. But... why are you here? I thought you wouldve been protecting the Thalmor." He raised an eyebrow, letting the handshake go.  
"Pfft, those bastards can rot in hell for all I care. I personally wouldnt mind going to the Summerset Isles and slaughtering all the Thalmor. The only reason I dont is because Id be villified by the Empire as a criminal, and Im not sure if I could pull it off alone. Dont think just because I dont worship Talos that I dont respect the basic right to worship whoever you wish. Personally, if the Empire outlawed Daedra worship, Id start a rebellion myself. I have to say it really takes balls to do what you've done." Kurokon responded.  
Ulfric blinked. "what about the Vigile of Stendarr?"  
Kuro chuckled. "they arent sanctioned by the Emperor, or me, so they are basically murderers, so if they attack me, I am free to dispose of them, unlike the bloody Thalmor... That reminds me, we need a treaty until we have discovered why there is suddenly a dragon going around destroying random towns."  
Hadvar frowned. "Well, sir, I think we should warn the Jarl of whiterun, there may be something there considering that was where that dragon was once imprisoned." Kuro nodded.

Kuro turned to Alex, Aidan, and Kenji. "anyone feel like going to whiterun?" He cracked a grin. Alex and Kenji smirked, while Aidan laughed.  
_

When they reached the gates to whiterun, they were stopped by a guard. "Stop, city's closed, Jarl's orders."

Kuro was about to speak, when Alex spoke up before him. "Did he say why?" The guard shook his head. "Well, as you can see, Commander Kuro and Jarl Ulfric are here to negotiate a truce on nuetral ground, we were told that Jarl Balgruuf was expecting us." The guard then recognized Alex as the Harbinger and apologized, before ushering them in to see the Jarl.

Kuro raised his eyebrow at Alex "I was going to tell him about the dragon, whyd you stop me?"

Alex chuckled. "I'm surprised you didnt think about it. Panic."

"Ah... damnit cant believe I forgot about something like that. Must be the change from Morrowind to Skyrim getting to me finally." Kuro sighed.

Alex decided to be the one to break the news to the Jarl, knowing him better than the rest. The rest of the group were invited to stay at Jorrvaskr for the evening, since they were friends of Alex. Ulfric and Kuro were engaged in a conversation regarding both politics and war strategies, along with telling each other some stories. Kenji was busy trying to get into Ria's pants, only to be bashed with a shield from Aela. Aidan, Hadvar, and Ralof were just listening to Kuro and Ulfric.  
_

Unfortunately, the Jarl nearly had a panic attack when he heard the news. "Ulfric Stormcloak... AND Commander Kuro both in my City?! They might just destroy the place, please tell me you didnt leave them alone!"

"Jarl Balgruuf, I would not make such a mistake, they are both in Jorrvaskr, both seem friendly towards each other, it seems Ulfric hates Tulius, but he gets along with Kuro. I have seen no deciet in either's eyes, please calm down my Jarl." Alex, unlike most of his friends, knew how to be respectful and didnt mind it. He was rebellious to a point, but he knew to respect those with higher positions than him, even if he didnt agree.

Balgruuf sighed, but nodded. "You are right, but what caused them both to come here? Was it the dragon I saw earlier?"

Alex scowled and nodded. "Yes, we all came from Helgen, the entire town was burned to the ground, No one could stop it, and from what I saw, it was headed this way."

Balgruuf shook his head. "no, it was at first, but then it turned from there and went back around the throat of the world, heading towards Morrowind."

Alex nodded in thought. "I had best go make sure they dont get into a fight."

Balgruuf raised his eyebrow. "I thought you said they got along?"

Alex snorted. "I wish it was Kuro and Ulfric I was talking about."

Balgruuf spoke once more. "The thief, Aidan Kenta, and the Assassin, Kenji Nakamura were both seen with you entering the city, the guard captain trusted your judgement, but told me."

Alex frowned. "They wont do anything illegal here if thats what your worried about."

Balgruuf smiled, and shook his head. "No, there is a favor I need, see I need one of you who is well versed in magic to help translate what my court mage is saying, he cant really explain to non mages, and he was studying the dragons since I told him of it."

Alex nodded "I have the perfect guy."  
_

When Alex enter Jorrvaskr, he half expected the hall to be broken, instead he came to the view of Kurokon, drunk off his ass, flirting with Aela, who was ready to cut him in two, Kenji was laughing his ass off watching, Aidan was talking with Ralof and Hadvar, and Ulfric was watching amusedly. Alex scowled, and tapped Kenji on the shoulder. "Can I borrow your hammer?" Kenji shrugged and gave it to him. Alex gripped it with both hands, walking up behind Kurokon. He swung forward, smashing it into his head, and sending Kurokon flying into the wall. With that, all attention was on him. "who in the hell gave him mead?!" All fingers pointed towards Kenji. "Damnit Kenji, you know how he got when we snuck that mead in the orphanage, what made you... you just wanted to get him drunk, didnt you?" Kenji just laughed, before ducking as his own war hammer was thrown towards him. He grabbed it from the air and put it on his back. "If your going to get him drunk, do it when I dont need him to help me." Alex sighed. "Yo, Kuro, get your ass up, I know that aint enough to do you in." Alex frowned when he heard no response, and grabbed Kuro from the rubble. He was still piss drunk... Damnit.

Alex sighed. "Ulfric, can I trust you to keep Kenji under control? He's a bit of a jackass sometimes, as youve seen." He ignored Kenji's innocent look, and supported Kuro by the shoulder. Kuro turned to Aela and waved. Aela just twitched her sword hand.  
_

"so why did you act drunk? I know you arent." Alex glanced at Kuro.

Kuro smirked. "Its not often I see such attractive and firey women, being drunk let me flirt without trouble. As for how I wasnt drunk... Alteration magic does wonders, Restoration too."

Alex grumbled something under his breath. Soon they reached the Court Wizard's lab, it was quite small, and only had an enchanting table, an alchemy table, a map of skyrim on a standing board, and a desk.

"You call this a lab?" Kuro complained loudly.

"Well excuse me for not being the pride of whiterun, I do not often get funds for my laboratory." Farengar spoke. "Are you the mage the Jarl needs? Honestly, I dont understand how he cant understand something so simple sometimes."

Kuro shrugged. "Alex, would you mind leaving, I dont want to bore you with this conversation." Alex shrugged and went to speak with the Steward.

Kuro smirked. "so, what is this I hear about the introductory course in Dragon Physiology?" Farengar's eyes widened, before a large grin broke out on his face.  
_

Alex frowned. The steward was a good man, but too cautious. He sighed. "so you think we should just let the dragon burn down another village before we do anything? If you are worried about the Jarl of Falkreath thinking its a threat, send a letter explaining the situation, if its the war you are worried about, dont be, Kuro and Ulfric have agreed to a truce. Relax Avenicci. I think you need a vacation, you are worrying too much." Alex smiled at the end, knowing Avenicci would take the bait.

"Maybe your right, I havent had a day off in years, I'll have to ask Jarl Balgruuf first." With that, the steward went to ask the Jarl. Alex sighed. Too many things had happened today, and he needed a drink. Seeing Kurokon again was a blessing, but he got aggrivating sometimes. It was almost night time now, and he needed to find a place for Ulfric to stay during the night. He was sure Ulfric's honor would keep him from attacking anyone, but that didnt mean the Inn would take him in. Most people in the hold favored Imperial rule. He briefly wondered if Vignar would allow him to stay. If he heard right, then Vignar's family supported Stormcloaks.

Kuro could stay at the Inn, but he knew Kuro would likely stay outside. Kuro had spoke to him a bit, telling him how he had learned to live off the land, not litteraly, sometimes he had to steal clothes or money to buy good clothes, but he mostly hunted and trained on his own, even sleeping in trees. Alex chuckled at that. Kuro, the mage of all people, sleeping in trees, hunting, and stealing. He couldnt imagine it.

Kuro walked over to him with a shit eating grin on his face. Alex groaned. "What did you learn?" He knew that this was going to bite him in the ass.

"Tomorrow... Aidan and Kenji are going on a little trip..." Kurokon smirked, and Alex slowly began to match his smirk. "you are a sadistic bastard, you know that?"

"Flattery will get you nowhere."  
_

Jorrvaskr was finally peaceful. Kenji, and Aidan had gone to the Inn, Kuro just plain disappeared, Ralof and Hadvar went to riverwood together, using the cart to travel there, and Ulfric was staying at the Gray-mane's house. Alex, Aela and Farkas were the only ones awake, Farkas was only awake because he had just gotten back from a job. Alex decided to ask the question that was on his mind. "Why did you let him?"

Aela blinked "what?"

Alex smirked. "You let him flirt with you, I know you, if anyone else had tried that, they'd be in peices, what made you let him?"

Aela growled. "what are you suggesting?"

Alex grinned like a chesire cat. "Oh nothing, just that you dont mind mages as much as you say." He had to run to his room to avoid the arrows she shot at him. She was such fun to tease.  
_

"you know, they are going to get you back for this, right?" Alex asked Kuro. Kuro just smirked. "fine, act like that, but dont be surprised when they actually get you drunk and you wake up in some stranger's bed." Kurokon snorted. "I doubt that would be a bad thing for me." Alex just shrugged. Kuro had changed from the quiet boy he once knew, of course with over five years to change, it was inevitable. He was now a bit insane, much more of a smartass, but he was still a loner. That he would have to change.

"How long has it been?" Alex asked off handedly.  
"Since I was infected?" Kuro asked quietly, still somewhat sore about the subject. "about two years. Caius found me after that and pretty much took me in, lately he has been trying to locate the Dissendent priests, but let me off for two months, so Ive got that long till I go back."  
"but you dont look fifteen." Alex pointed out.  
"Magic can do many many things, knowing I wouldnt grow any older, I used a mixture of Alteration and Restoration to... age myself a bit, my body right now is about twenty, maybe eighteen for all I know." Kuro chuckled. "It'll be hard you know? Living longer than anyone else."  
"well, you might be like a vampire now" Kuro sat up, glancing at alex, waiting for an explanation. "from what I know, Corpus is contaigous, so you might be able to give your version of it to another, that way they wouldnt devolve into a mindless beast, and wouldnt age like you."

Kurokon smacked his forhead. "why didnt I think of that?"

Alex snorted. "Youve always had a shitty memory, makes me sad to call you the smartest out of our group."

"and youve always been blunt, makes me sad to call you the best with people." Kuro smirked. They both laughed at that.  
_

"I swear to fucking god, I see one more Draugr, I'm going to kick Kuro's ass!" Kenji groaned. They had finally gotten past the strange door, only after killing wave after wave of Draugr. It wasnt that Draugr were strong or even smart, it was that there was ALWAYS more than one. If not, then it was usually a Scourge or Deathlord. Why people decided to title the Draugr he never knew, but he knew he hated them.

"Oh I think you can do better than kick his ass" Aidan smirked. "I mean, he wasnt drunk last night because he was using magic..." Kenji's eyes widened, before a cruel grin grew on his face. "Aidan, you are pure evil... I love it!" He cackled.

Unfortunately, the cackle awakened the last Draugr, who had the stone they needed on his back. "Son of a bitch!" Kenji, at this point, said fuck it and began tearing the Draugr apart with his hands. Aidan found it strange. Not that Kenji did it, but he had never heard a Draugr scream like that. He picked up the stone before Kenji broke it too. "come on, lets just go, hopefully next time we'll find something funner." Oh he would soon wish he hadnt said that.  
_

After they got back to whiterun, they immediately went to the court wizard, giving him the stone and turning. Unfortunately, Irileth, the personal guard of the Jarl, interupted. "Farengar, come at once, a dragon has been spotted nearby. You two should come too." Kenji smacked Aidan on the back of the head. "fucking jinx..."

After explaining what had happened, the guard left, and Balgruuf asked Kenji and Aidan to help Irileth kill the dragon. They agreed, even though at the moment Kenji wanted to kick Aidan's ass. They ran down to the western watch tower, only to be shocked when the tower was broken and burning. Yup, definitely a dragon. The dragon appearently decided to come back and fuck more things up.

Aidan began throwing darts at the dragon, until it landed. After that, Kenji ran up to it and began slamming his hammer into it, feeling the scales crack. Damn the scales were tough. The dragon of course, didnt take this well, and shouted out fire at Kenji, making him turn and cover his exposed parts by bending, so that only his armored back was facing the dragon. It saved him some nasty burns, but didnt feel good on his back. The dragon flew away from Kenji and decided to kill some guards. Every time Kenji tried coming close, the dragon would fly back up. He was beginning to get pissed.

Suddenly, a small figure flew onto the dragon. He dragon bucked, but couldnt shake it off. The figure began running towards the head. When he reached the head, be stabbed down right in the middle, slicing into the brain of the beast. The dragon immediately shook and fell from the sky. The figure jumped off and a pink bolt of magic hit him. He began to slowly fall down, almost boringly slow. It didnt take Kenji long to realize the figure was Alex, and that meant Kuro had sent the bolt of magic to keep Alex from falling to his death. Excellent teamwork from the two, and excellent planning. Though that didnt make up for them taking his kill. Oh they were going to get it.

Everyone, even the cheering guards, stopped speaking and moving when spirals of etheral energy surrounded Alex and began creating a mist around him, slowly absorbing it into his body. Everyone but Kuro knew what this was. Kuro did, however, recognize the sign of a soul absorption when he saw it. "Holy hell Alex, why did you absorb a dragon's soul?" Nearly everyone fell over at that. _

After they explained to Kuro what dragonborn was, they traveled back to whiterun, ignoring the loud "Do-va-khin" that nearly defeaned everyone. and informed the Jarl of what happened.

"so what happened at the watch tower?" Balgruuf spoke like he was expecting something. Alex spoke up. "The dragon destroyed the watch tower, but left, then it came back and we killed it" Everyone ignored Kenji's complaints of it being his kill. "I see, but something.. else must have happened." Balgruuf said.  
Kenji decided to speak up. "Yeah after shithead here stole my kill, he revealed he was dragonborn, absorbed the dragon's soul and everything."  
Normally, Balgruuf would have chided anyone who spoke of the Harbinger with disrespect, but seeing as they were friends, and Alex just smirked at Kenji's sentence, he left it alone. "so its true then, the greybeards were summoning you."  
"What do these greybeards want with him?" Kuro narrowed his eyes. He was told of the greybeards when they explained what a dragonborn was to him. He did not like the sound of them.  
"That is their business, but I'm pretty sure they wish to train him. To train a dragonborn is a great honor, especially for the Greybeards."

After that, they left to go back to Jorrvaskr.

"You know, I might join, but Ive got my duties in morrowind." Kuro told Alex.

Alex raised his eyebrow. "I thought you were a pure mage? When did you learn to fight?"

Kuro snorted "about the same time I learned some creatures are immune to magic. Mostly Im a hand to hand fighter, thats why I chose the claw for my right arm." Seeing Alex's confused face, he explained. "my arm was burned a few years ago. It was bad enough to blacken the entire arm, and kill all the nerves in it, not to mention the muscle damage... Normally, Restoration could fix it, but this was... a special kind of fire, and lets just say not even a master was able to heal it. Instead, I began looking into combining spells, which I did successfully. I used a mixture of Conjuration, Alteration, and Restoration to create the arm you see now. Conjuration to permanently conjure a daedric glove, with a few modifications, Alteration to attach it and change the enchanted parts of it, and restoration to make new nerves, muscles, and bones. Its a rather long story." He said, chugging a mug of Mead that Kenji had put infront of him.

Unknown to him, Kenji had made Aidan make the most powerful magicka draining potion he could, one that could last all night, or at least long enough so that Kuro would be too drunk to fix it. Aidan didnt have to be asked twice, as he was angry about making them go to Bleak Falls Barrow too. Alex didnt know, so he didnt warn Kuro. Unfortunately for most the people in Jorrvaskr, Kenji had increased the concentration of alcohol in the mead, not even telling Aidan. So while everyone was drinking what they thought was enough to give them the pleasure of a buzz, they were infact drinking enough to get piss drunk, maybe even worse in Kuro's case, as he had a weakness towards alcohol.  
_

Alex yawned, he never got headaches from hangovers, thanks to his wolf blood. However, he did begin to get a migraine when he heard a loud scream, followed by a loud crash. He droggily got dressed and looked around. He saw most of the others in the hallway, at least those who hadnt been drinking, or those who had special characteristics that kept them from getting the hangover migraine. There was one problem, four people were missing. Kenji, Kuro, Aela, and Farkas. Farkas was probably sleeping, Kenji was probably trying to get into Ria's pants again, but why were Kuro and Aela...

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Alex screamed, running towards Aela's room. He slammed the door open, and drew his dagger. Kuro was already dressed, as was Aela, but Kuro immediately yelped. Alex charged at Kuro with intent to kill. Kuro dodged and ran for the exit, jumping over the various people in the hallway. The people parted when an enraged Alex ran towards the exit.

Everyone immediately turned to Aela as she stepped out, curious what had just happened. "Dont look at me, he slept on the floor." With that, nearly everyone, especially Aidan, laughed. However another scream drew everyone's attention. "it's Kenji." Aidan chuckled. "After everyone got drunk, he tried to sleep with Ria again, all I remember is him going to her room with her." Everyone stared as a half naked Kenji ran out the exit, an embarrassed and enraged Ria behind him.

Aidan began laughing. "Kuro's always had bad luck, and Kenji... hes just a pervert... well we best go stop Alex from attacking Kuro, Im not sure the town would survive if the two actually fought." Most people in the hallway frowned. That was true, Alex was truly destructive when enraged, and if Kuro was as powerful a mage as they thought, there was no doubt the town would be heavily damaged.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry about the shortness of this chapter compared to the others, I just had to stop it where it ends, for plot purposes.**

"All those problems, so easy to deal with compared to what had caused the problems to begin with..."  
_

After they finally calmed Alex down, and explained that Kuro had just slept on the floor, he relented from his search for the mage. Kuro still hadnt been seen by anyone Alex had talked to. Kuro sure as hell knew when to back off. Of course it was likely he only hid because he didnt want to fight Alex, not because of fear. Alex didnt even know who would come on top if they really fought. All he knew was that they would likely level the mountain city. Not litteraly, of course, but there would be a very high level of death.

Alex wondered where Kuro was off to, but decided to end his search. Kuro knew hed cool down and eventually come back. He decided to go train with Kenji. He would train with Aidan, but Aidan was less a fighter than Kenji.  
_

Kuro, unlike Alex, was having a very troublesome problem. Usually Tulius rarely questioned him, even though he was so young, but now he was practically scolding the Commander. All the shouting and rage in the air made Kuro almost regret having ordered this meeting. Finally, he slammed his hand on the table, halting all noise. "Silence! All of you! You do not see the threat these dragons represent? You assume I did it on a whim? I am ashamed to call you Legates, and General. I am truly disappointed. Do not let your hatred for the stormcloaks rule over logic. What do you think would happen if we ignored the dragons and focused on the war? The dragons would take advantage and kill both sides indescrimintaly! All of you have forgotten why I came to skyrim. General, while your startegies on the battle field are exempilary, you do not have the temperance to negotiate with the enemy during such a crisis. Let me explain my position, then think what you will, but do not question me. What do you all think would happen if suddenly one dragon appeared, right after a different one was seen? Exactly, someone is bringing them back to life, our job is to protect the empire and its citizens, that comes before even a war like this, especially when the leader of the other side is willing to begin a truce. I dont care much what you tell your men, my job specifically is to safeguard Skyrim, and I chose what is best, if you do not like it, then I personally dare you to disobey me, but be warned. You will not enjoy what I have in mind as punishment for those who do."

Everyone in the room was shocked. Kuro was always the carefree mage, offering intelligent advice, and giving orders politely. This was not that Kuro. This was Kurokon Shikyo, Commander of the Imperial army. His voice had even changed from the jovial tone everyone loved to hear to a dark and filled with authority. It took a moment for the response to his speech to be felt. Even the legendary General Tulius was floored. None of that changed when Kuro walked out the door, his cloak billowing behind him.  
_

Ulfric had waited for the meeting to end. Kuro had asked him to come as proof he was willing for a truce, and Ulfric could tell it wasnt a trap, after all, Kuro was just as honorbound as Ulfric. When Kuro walked out, Ulfric followed, deciding to make conversation. It was quite nerve wracking, being in a town with people who hated you because you killed their leader. "How did it go?"

"As expected. I do suggest getting back to Windhelm yourself, I'd come with you, but Ive got business to attend to in whiterun." Kuro said, still frowning from the lack of respect. He stopped, seeing there was no one around. "so why did you really break away?"

Ulfric sighed. "This again? I thought I explained. I want to be able to worship Talos without hiding it again. I want what I was promised during the great war."

Kuro nodded. "ya know. I can agree with you as a warrior, even as a warleader, but as a civilian leader, I cant stand it."

Ulfric was genuinely intrigued, no one ever spoke to him about his faults, usually from fear, or respect. "What do you mean?"

Kuro sighed, before running a hand through his hair. "I've been to windhelm Ulfric. Ive seen how you let the people treat the argonians and dark elves, let alone Kahjit. It makes you look as bad as the thalmor honestly." He didnt give Ulfric a chance to respond, instead he simply walked away, before vanished with a crack.  
_

Alex was rather pleased, Kuro had returned with news, and he was going to be the first one inside of High Hrothgar for years. Unfortunately he was going alone, but the good news was that during his time training, Kuro would be in morrowind, and Kenji and Aidan were going to Cyrodiil. They were only going for a month or so, and he didnt know how long it would take to train in the Thuum. It was good because as soon as they would see each other at the exact same time. He was slightly worried about Kenji. He had told him of their plans. Kuro was to become Nerevarine, while Kenji was to become the new Sheogorath. Alex didnt want to know which of them would become more powerful, and honestly he didnt care.

The very idea of the Kliq coming into existence depended on their friendship, and that was something he definitely trusted. Sure they argued, they fought, but each time it was due to playfulness, and if not, it was usually a very unserious fight, often over something small. Lord help anyone who actually managed to piss anyone off in the group. Alex knew that if angry, he lost it, he would attack any that angered him, but he did gain an incredible increase in all areas when angered. He didnt think Aidan had the ability to get angry. Kenji, on the other hand, got sadistic. He remembered the last person who pissed him off, then remembered the remains of the last person who pissed him off. Kuro was much like Kenji in anger, only Kuro focused. Anger did not distract Kuro like most people, it focused him. Kuro, without anger, could plan the entire collapse of any guild who opposed him, but when he was angry, he could do it and make it look like the guild was not only corrupt, but betrayed its own members.

Alex had gotten rather fed up with the Greybeards' peaceful and ignorant ways. If he recalled correctly, the very reason Jurgen Windcaller began the way of the voice was to protect the word of the Divines, not to sit on a mountain and complain about how corrupt and ignorant the world was. It was ridiculous. He could no longer stand it after he absorbed Alduin's soul. Perhaps it was a mistake for the blades to kill Paarthunax, he would much rather kill the Greybeards'. Alex shook his head, clearing it of such thoughts. Sure, he hated their indifference, but to kill them? No, he wouldnt. They had been nothing short of hospitable and kind to him. His anger probably came from him staying to master the rest of the way of the voice after Alduin died, which had lasted about two months. Most of that time was spent trying to convince the Greybeards' to actually teach him instead of sending him out on pointless journeys to ruins which may or may not actually be there. He was infuriated with them, but to kill them out of anger? Maybe it was just temporary anger, but it was too large for him to stay there any longer. He had nearly mastered every shout they knew, and more. He loved the place because it was quiet and away from the thriving public, which would certainly mob the dragonborn as soon as they saw him. To be honest, he liked having some attention, like when he was Harbinger, but to actually have... fans... crawling in windows to meet you...

Alex almost wished he had hid his identity when he killed the dragons. It helped him get free items, sure, but it also made him the victim of several... demonstrations. He recalled one fool actually tried to protest the killing of dragons. He found it ironic when said protester was eaten by a dragon. Sure, it was a bit morbid to laugh at death, but he had it coming.

Currently, Alex had decided to go back to Jorrvaskr, where no doubt Vilkas was filling in as Harbinger, and everyone else was bored out of their minds. Before he left, he paid three couriers, one who went to Vivec, Morrowind, another went to the nearest Sheogorath Shrine, and the last went to the Imperial City. Surprisingly, none of them questioned their orders, which rather worried him. He heard news from Kuro, Aidan, and Kenji. Admittedly, everyone knew about Aidan and Kuro now, but Kenji only Daedra worshipers knew about.

Kuro had killed three 'gods', Dagoth Ur, Almalexia, and Vivec. He personally said he would have killed Sotha Sil if Almalexia hadnt already. Many Dunmer had, at first, claimed him to be insane, but then he showed them the proof of the Tribunal's heresy, which shut most of them up pretty quick. He heard that he had become a member of the Blades, and the letter he sent him contained information on the blades left in Skyrim. Most people didnt know, but Morrowind was practically untouched by the "Great War". It was filled with elves, and too far away from the Summerset Isles for any Thalmor to really care. He figured that if Kuro was now the Leader of the Blades, that meant there were quite a few left in Morrowind. Probably more than anywhere else. Apparently Kuro was now in line to be the next king. He heard rumors that it was King Helseth himself that decreed it, probably to appease the upset masses. It wasnt known widely, but most of Morrowind now backed Kuro, and hated Helseth. Helseth represented the discreet and covert corruption. Kuro represented the intelligent and strong. Sure he was crafty, but unlike Helseth, he wouldnt kill his predecessor to gain power.

Aidan was probably the most known of all of them. Cyrodil was still recovering from the Great War, so when Merehunes Dagon started his plan to open oblivion gates, his help was greatly appreciated. He was named Champion of Cyrodil, so he was certainly known and revered. While Alex and Kuro stood up to multiple demigods, Aidan had actually stood against a Daedric Prince. Of course considering Kenji had actually beaten and become a Daedric Prince...

Kenji had made an accidental trip to the Shivering Isles, and become the Madgod. He never spoke of the details, but he did say that He had to fight the strongest Daedric Lord. Of course, Kenji might make things up, but not something like that. Usually anything he made up was as a joke, or when someone asked him about his past. Couldnt have the world knowing you served the Dark Brotherhood, could you?

Soon each of them had appeared in their own manner. Kuro had actually used a dimension with multiple portals, each one set by a specific spell, and appeared in Whiterun, shocking a few guards. Aidan had actually flown, fell rather, thanks to a powerful fortify acrobatics spell he was trying out. Fortunately, he managed to cast it again just before he hit the ground, causing him no damage. Though Kuro berated him for doing such advanced magic that he was clearly not ready for. Kenji's arrival was certainly the best, in Alex's opinion. He had created a door right in the middle of the street, scaring the hell out of the local blacksmith. He casually walked out, making illusions to seem like hell itself was spewing from the door.

Kenji was, as usual, the first to speak. "whats up Alex? Why'd you make it sound urgent?" He hadnt changed much in appearance, other than growing some facial hair. Of course, his eyes were different now, more cat-like. Probably Sheogorath's remaining energies changing him to match its previously owner, Alex didnt know though.

Kuro rolled his eyes. "Well the courier was probably scared shitless, speaking to Sheogorath and all, probably overreacted and made it sound more urgent than it really was." Kuro had changed a bit, he had a bit of a mustache now, along with a patch of hair above his chin, but under his bottom lip. His eyes were more focused now, with a slight yellow tint to the previously white background. Maybe it was just the sun or something.

Aidan laughed. "Always trying to make others sound stupid, eh?" Aidan had certainly changed the most out of the four. He was now a bit taller, and certainly stockier. He didnt look like the scrawny kid he used to, instead he looked much more trained. Alex rather hoped that he would be a better fighter now.

"How long has it been?" Alex asked while they walked inside of Jorrvaskr, away from prying eyes. Alex was taller as well, and certainly looked stronger. He managed to look more feral as well, pulling off the 'Im a werewolf in secret' look perfectly, aside from the clothes of course.

Aidan frowned. "I dont know, almost a year now, right?" It certainly felt like it, but had it really been a full year? "Maybe nine months"

Kuro nodded. "Id say so, never did bother to keep track of time though."

Kenji shrugged. "I never did either, so dont look at me."

They sat down at the large table, fortunately no one else was listening. "We have a problem" Kuro spoke.

Alex looked straight at Kuro and nodded. "War?"

Kuro sighed and shook his head. "I tried to reason with them, I tried to warn them... the Thalmor have declared war on the Empire. Right now, the Emperor is trying to keep it from happening. The blades are nearly gone, those remaining are either too unskilled or too old to fight effectively, thanks to that baby boom fifty years ago, and not to mention the full weakened state of every country except the Summerset Isles... If this happens, I fear we may just lose." Kuro held no delusions about what could happen. Anything that wasnt High elf would suffer, and those who opposed the thalmor would be wiped out. They needed help, and fast.

Alex's eyes widened. "You have to be joking, they knew about the baby boom and used it as the perfect chance to attack, leaving most of our soldiers either too old to fight, or too untrained to pose a threat... How long?" Alex stared hard into Kuro's eyes.

Kuro frowned. "six months at best, three months at worst, so we have three months to get a highly skilled army, an army which can hold back the entire Aldmeri Dominion...ha, this is fucking great!" Kuro growled out, angry.

Kenji decided to speak up. "I have an idea."

Kuro looked at Kenji, surprised. "You... have an idea? Do share."

"well, I cant send my armies here to Nirn, but what about Akavir?" Kenji shrugged.

Both Kuro and Alex were stunned. Kenji came up with ideas that might work about as often as Alex missed a clear shot. Usually his ideas werent bad, just they often resulted in injury for all parties involved.

Kuro smirked. "I think I'm starting to rub off on you, and we've been gone for so long too... what an improvement. In any case, that is a good idea, I recently.. eh... acquired a special type of ship, thanks to a friend who helped me repair it as a gift." They knew better than to ask the details, as they usually involved slaughter or some menial task, neither were worth the time. "Actually, come to think of it, we should probably bring a few people, just incase. A healer, someone who can repair the sails, a navigator, and anyone else you wish to bring, no more than five extra people though. When you get those people, meet me in Winterhold, we'll set sail from there."  
_

It had taken them a week, but they managed to find the right people. The healer was from the College of Winterhold, she was an apprentice training to be a master. She was exceptionally gifted in restoration skills. Her name was Albiotte, and she was rather young, compared to the master healer who wouldnt come with them. The repairman had come from Windhelm, and had been paid a large sum of money to go with them. The Navigator was also from windhelm, and was his brother. Alex had brought Aela, and Farkas. He could trust Vilkas to watch over the Companions while he was gone. Kenji had brought two new recruits for the Brotherhood. Aidan brought Karliah, the only real fighter in the guild aside from him. They had been waiting at the shore for a while now, waiting on Kuro's ship.

No one was prepared for what they saw. They had expected a large ship, sure, a ship worth their time. They did not expect a dwemer ship which was floating towards them, not on the water, but in the air. Its speed was slow, but it was close to landing near them, so it was expected. They also did not expect to see Kuro waving off of the front. The ship lowered until three large pillars expanded from beneath it, allowing the ship to park. After that, a stair case extended downwards, allowing everyone on board. Most of them were nervous of both the ship and the trip, but quelled it, whether from greed or from a sense of adventure.

"Kuro... how the HELL did you get something like this?" Alex gaped. A dwemer ship was on thing, but a flying dwemer ship was an entirely different story.

"heh... well I helped an old man who happened to create the prototype for this, and in return he helped build me a better one, with me upgrading it. Its a brand new ship now!" Kuro smiled cheerfully. He always was happy testing out inventions.

Alex's eyes widened. "please for the love of all that is sacred tell me this thing is at least tested."

Kuro just smirked. "now it is."

Alex frowned deeply. "I wish you would act serious some times, you act like such a child half the time."

Kuro's eyes unfocused, and his face settled on a neutral expression. "I am always serious, childish or not..." He turned and walked down into his private quarters, as unofficial captain.

Kenji raised an eyebrow. "Wonder whats wrong with him... Oh well. Our destination... Captain." Kenji grinned. Alex groaned. It was going to be a long trip.  
_

It was surprisingly peaceful, the trip. Most of it was spent with the usual antics from the Kliq, Kuro flirting with Aela, Alex beating the hell out of Kuro for flirting with Aela, Kenji scaring the hell out of the crew, Aidan stealing some interesting trinkets from the scared crew. The rest of the time was spent with various games suggested by Kenji, surprisingly, none of them involved stripping. Mostly they were random card games or some other board games, often chess between Kuro and anyone who played. Alex, Kenji, and Aidan were surprised when Kuro was beaten by the Navigator. Kuro simply reminded them Chess was a fixed game, where nothing surprising could happen. They understood immediately, seeing as Kuro was a master at pulling surprises which no one had seen before. Unfortunately he was only decent at chess.

When they finall spotted land, they had expected to find a savage race filled with war heroes and strange creatures, not a perfectly civilized human race, only slightly different than Nords. If anything, they seemed more like Dwemer, but without the elven blood. Kuro had to admit their technology seemed decent, but still not on the level of the Dwemer. Of course that was only by appearence and structures. Kuro desperately hoped that they understood at least one of the languages he knew.

Kuro began speaking to what seemed to be a sailor, and was pleasantly surprised to find they spoke the same basic language. "Thank god, we know very little of this land in Tamriel, but the ability to communicate is a blessing. Anyway, we were wondering where we might find your King."

"Oh, you mean the Draknen? He's our leader, probably in the offices as always, just head towards the largest building in the center of town." Kuro nodded in thanks and led the group towards the large tower.

From what they could see, this city was the country's main shipyard. It looked much like what Alex had seem at Sky Haven Temple. Each building was rather short, and one story, allowing easy sight to the larger buildings which they had no doubt were the market places. The town itself was highly populated, probably nearing overpopulation, but staying just short of it. Each citizen looked rather happy at the moment, so the economy couldnt be that bad.

Alex smiled at the cold air, loving the fact it was just as cold as Skyrim, and definitely clearer. Very little snow was here, if any. The port reminded most of the group of the ports in Hammerfell as well, but it was certainly bigger. Alex frowned. He was getting off track. He had felt some strange sensation ever since they had arrived. He didnt know, but Kenji was feeling the same way. The entire area had the feeling of a conspiracy going on. He felt something was following them as well, but ignored it. Whatever this was, he was going to have to be very careful.  
_

"And why should I help any of you? I do not know you, I do not care for you or your empire, so tell me, why?" The Draknen was mostly apathetic to the group, showing no care.

Kuro frowned, but Alex spoke. "The Thalmor are more of a threat than you think, they hate anyone who isnt an altmer, especially humans. They will come here next to attempt to wipe you out, and they will have timed it so that you are in the downfall of a baby boom, just like they did with our empire, and they will make sure their armies are full to the brim before attacking, even someone with such a large and mighty army would be beaten in the moment of weakness and surprise."

The Draknen growled. "You say I underestimate them?! You underestimate us! You will find no help for you here, leave, and never come back."

The group frowned, but left. Something bigger was going on here, and the Kliq werent going to stop trying to save their homelands.  
_

"So they asked for your help, hm?"

The Draknen bowed before the figure, but nodded.

"And?"

"I ordered them to leave of course."

The figure scowled. "foolish! They might have been our salvation from the Blood Bandits! What possibly caused you to do such an idiotic thing?!"

The Draknen cowered. "They disrespected me of course."

The figure frowned deeply. "Find them, offer them a deal, if they can find and stop the Blood Bandits, we will help them in this little war." The Draknen just nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ecessive Force**

**Chapter Four**

"We were growing, before we were just masters of our trades, but now... we were becoming true legends..."  
_

Lieca was a young vampire, and a new blood bandit member. For her, life was simple, do as your told, and reap the rewards, however slight they may be. Tonight was her proving night. She had a simple duty really, but it was important. She was to guard the entrance to the main base. They had about six bases, but each was equally important. She sighed bored, tired of standing still. When she heard of the blood bandits it usually involved mass murders and a member single handedly wiping out a city, but this was just plain... boring. She steeled her resolve and ignored her rather mutinous thoughts, it wouldnt due to quit after the first day. Unlike what most would have you believe, it was not a big deal if someone wanted to quit bandit organizations, provided they kept secrets and stayed in contact. Hell, that was how they tended to recruit, through retired members.

It was as those thoughts passed through her head that she finally saw someone. The figure was robed in pure black, holding his hands together inside the robe, covering his skin. His head was tilted down, covering it so that nothing but his robe could be seen. There was no sound was the figure glided forward. She stood straighter at the potential threat this figure brought. She was no fighter, the main point of a guard was to be fast and able to alert anyone inside of a potential threat. Of course, she could deal with any civilians, that wouldnt be a problem, but any trained fighter would kill her in a fight.

The figure paused at the distance of ten feet from her. Her breath hitched. He was litteraly just outside the other guard's range, so he knew their protocol. That meant he was high up, considering only Tisers used this entrance, even though everyone knew of it. Tisers were the third highest rank in the Blood Bandits, highly respected and feared. The hood of the figure fell, and she let loose the breath she was holding before. Cirk was not an official Blood Bandit. He was their lawman, someone who was able to operate inside the law and help the badnits out as well. He was friendly, but incredibly cunning. He nodded slightly, which she returned. It was a form of greeting in the bandits, one reserved for public meetings. It was strange that he would use it there, but it wasnt that uncommon.

He walked closer, nearly passing her by, but he stopped two feet from her, spreading his arms apart just enough to show skin. She suddenly fell, dead. The figure didnt even look at the body as he smirked. She was black from the ammount of electricity passed through her. It was a great attack, but costly if it missed. Someone who had more magic, or perhaps more physical conditioning would have survived it almost easily. Anyone below that though... He shook his head as he passed through the overly trapped entrance. One wrong step and you ended up dead. He did have to admit, some of the ideas of the traps were brilliant. One tile was set to release an invisible poisonous cloud if stepped on. Another was rigged to drop the victim into a room filled with spiders, the kind that tear things apart rather than poison them. One he swore he would have to redo was one which turned the victim's magicka against them, turning the magic into a bomb. He doubted anyone could survive that, unless they were a complete warrior like Alex. Even then, they would be heavily damaged.

Cirk, or Kuro, glided ever forward past the numerous and incredibly random traps. Earlier in the day, he ran into Cirk, and used a bit of magic to essentially read his mind. After that, a bit of alteration was all that was needed to make him look like Cirk, who was now having a nice chat with a few Daedric beings. He had to remember to thank Kenji later. He ignored that as he finally entered the ridiculously paranoid organization's base. He was suddenly surrounded by Blood Bandits, who were talking at him. He ignored them and began to think of who would win their little bet.

Flashback -

"Kenji, you've got the east sector, Alex, youve got the north, Aidan, west. Aela, you and Farkas have the middle base, Finally, Zero, you and Daos" He pointed at the assassins Kenji had brought. "you go to the base under the water. Alright, now make sure that no one escapes, and no one survives. This is not an assault mission, this is an extermination mission. Now lets move out!" Kuro spoke to the gathered fighters. Those he hadnt mentioned were staying behind, since they werent much for fighting.

Kenji smirked. "Wait, how about a little bet?"

Kuro raised his eyebrow. "what kind of bet?"

Kenji chuckled. "Well this is an extermination mission, so a kill count of course! I'm thinking the winner gets a favor from each of us. Simple bet, since not all of us are loaded." He looked pointedly at Aidan and Alex, who both had more money than a bank.

Alex smirked. "Not my fault Kuro doesnt care for money, and you just have bad luck with money." Damned if that wasnt true. Kenji had once managed to find a real sunken treasure... right before the nearby volcano covered it entirely, melting the gold and un-puriying it, making it worthless.

Aidan was trying hard to keep from falling over laughing. Kuro let out a chuckle. Everyone else didnt understand, but reluctantly agreed to the bet.

Flashback End -

Kuro frowned, thinking of who would win the bet. The entire bet was more luck than anything. Unless of course the bases were interconnected like he suspected. If that was the case then Aela or Farkas would win. Zero and Daos had absolutely no chance though, considering an underground base would be best for only high ranking members. Of course that meant they would have the most fun as well. Hopefully they wouldnt die, but considering Kenji hand picked them, he doubted they would.

The bandits surrounding him began to get annoyed, but that was quickly blasted away when Cirk... blasted away. In place of him, a tall dark elf stood. He was wearing an ebony cuirass, high indoril pauldrons, daedric leggings. Ironically he was barefoot and had no gauntlets.

Kuro ignored the falling bodies around him as people began to panic. Some tried to leave only to find themselves turned around. He smiled as he recalled setting the temporal wards. Basically he had formed an orb around the base, anything that touched the ward came out the same place. It was quite a tricky spell. It drained him, but fortunately, he had been able to make it so that it absorbed magicka from the air, and anyone inside. Any spare magicka that it absorbed went directly to him, of course it was so small it hardly mattered.

A few of the braver bandits charged him, thinking their vampirism beat his skill... At some point, he began to feel sorry for the fools.

The first fell rather quickly, a well timed jab to the throat with his clawed arm easily killed the man. The next was rather annoying. He kept dodging the low level attacks, and Kuro didnt have many high level attacks that wouldnt take the fun out of the extermination, or disrupt the temporal ward. Instead, Kuro kept using beams of fire, ice, and lightning, killing anyone who was behind the man who dodged. Kuro threw caution to the wind and charged directly at the fool. The man was stunned enough that Kuro was able to literaly slice his arm off with his claw. The man quickly bled to death. The last major person he fought was rather interesting really.

Kuro laughed as the last man remained. The man was strangely calm at facing the man who murdered everyone present. At least two hundred men and women had died from Kuro by then.

"What is your name?" The man asked, with so much emotion it rivaled a brick wall.

Kuro smirked. "Kurokon Shikyo, you?" This man was obviously the leader of this base.

"Zane Hataro" The man said before running at Kuro full speed. To most, it would be incredibly fast, almost impossible to see. For Kuro, it was still highly impressive, but much less so. Kuro dodged to the right as Ortego passed him, flipping his foot to reduce lost speed before charging again. Kuro dodged again. Kuro narrowed his eyes and let the man charge again, before putting his arm forward. He coughed as Ortego's sword passed through his abdomen. Ortego, on the other hand, was missing half his head. Kuro pulled the sword out and healed himself.

Suddenly a cough errupted from Ortego's ought-to-be corpse. Kuro watched with morbid fascination as Ortego's head fully regenerated. "well.. thats new." Kuro said blankly. "Shit."  
_

Alex had a different way of dealing with escapees. He had barged in, breaking down the wall. His method of extermination involved hunting everyone down and killing them. For him, it was much simpler. He had gone werewolf right before, so everyone immediately ran towards him. They knew that a single werewolf couldnt possibly put down so many vampires. Must be fun living a delusion.

Alex tore through the first five, feeding on them so the transformation would last long enough to slaughter them all. Two pounced on his back, trying to get him by surprise. Alex, having a slightly morbid sense of humor in his werewolf form, jumped up, and leaned back, slamming the two on his back into the ground with a two hundred fifty pound werewolf on top of them. Needless to say, he would have to clean his back from the blood later... and the organs. Alex sliced through more and more, tearing them apart. He hardly noticed when he transformed back into a human, not even slowing in his slaughter. He had taken out his bow and attached the dagger to the end of the bow. He shot down at least ten before someone charged him again. He managed to slice the man's throat while also shooting four more.

Finally, there was only one left. The man ahead of him reminded him of Kuro when he got sadistic, right down to the smirk...

"Oh the puppy has come to play has he?" The man spoke. "The name's Madu, you?"

"Alex Ruler." Alex was still as calm as before, but was now wary of the man. Alex shot the man with his bow, right where his heart was. Alex was rather annoyed when the arrow bounced off harmlessly.

"Sorry, was I supposed to die?" Madu smirked.

"Well... shit." Alex frowned.  
_

Kenji by far, had the most effective and hilarious method of dealing with the base. He had changed the tiles that had traps and threw a few into the base, killing nearly everyone almost instantly. Those few that did survive were either too stunned or too wary to try escaping. After that, he started doing what he did best, ridiculously gory murder. He had easily ripped half the survivors apart with his hammer. The rest, for the most part, ran in circles. He had been counting, hoping to win the bet. He really wanted to see Kuro enhance his weapon further so it didnt break as easy, even though it was ebony and already enhanced without magic. He also wanted to get Aidan to snag a few items for him. He hadnt decided what he could get Alex to do, maybe he could have him do a few jobs or something. He didnt really care, it was all just for fun anyway. Hanging around people like Alex, Aidan, and even Kuro, one would think that Kenji would be serious and direct. Of course, such an assumption couldnt be more wrong. He was more laidback than Kuro, and more indirect than a maze.

Kenji was busy slaughtering the bandits, and didnt notice one sneak up from behind and bite him. He hardly cared, considering he couldnt be infected, being daedric and all that. He slammed his elbow into the biter and felt nothing but glee at the sight of all the dead bandits. It took him all of two minutes to wipe them all out, so he had plenty of time. He turned to leave, but there was a man standing in his way. "I missed one? No... you just got here didnt you? Rather horrible protection, coming after everyones dead, eh?"

The man look up at him and smiled. "I'm not meant for protection, they are supposed to be strong enough to protect themselves, guess we need to up their training then? Anyway, I'm Jvad Buinerre"

Kenji bowed mockingly, showing just how much he cared for the situation. "I am Kenjiro Nakamura"

Jvad simply kept the strange smile on his face, before chuckling. He suddenly vanished from veiw. Jvad would have bisected Kenji, if not for his skill as an assassin. Kenji felt the slight tremor from the footsteps of Jvad and jumped back, throwing one of the knives Kuro had given him. It was enchanted to explode on contact, which made him glad he jumped back.

As the dagger exploded, Kenji felt a piece of shrapnel enter his right shoulder. It would need healing before he could use it again. He shrugged with his left shoulder, not caring much of the injury. He had healed himself from worse, but he would rather wait until he went back to Kuro or Aidan. His healing was very weak compared to either of theirs. Kuro was the mage, and Aidan, as a theif, needed a back up if stealth ever failed him. Aidan was the mix of Kuro, Alex, and Kenji, since he was great with a sword, moderate with restoration, and better than Kenji at stealth. Of course, a theif needed more stealth than an assassin, especially one such as Kenji.

Kenji sighed. "Another one bites the dust." He suddenly twisted to the right, barely dodging the blade that passed by. He turned to glance at where the explosion happened. Kenji was rather surprised when he saw a scarred and pained Jvad. Kenji laughed outright. "well damn, I've seen some good endurance, buts yours has to be the best." Of course that wasnt entirely true, Alex had shown some rather impressive endurance last time they fought.

Jvad smiled. "Endurance? no, not endurance, regeneration."

Kenji narrowed his eyes. "shortening your own life for full regeneration? Crafty, but not surprising."

Jvad smirked. "Oh no, this doesnt shorten my life at all, infact, it doesnt do much of anything other than helpful effects."

Kenji frowned. "and why tell me this?"

Jvad smirked, reminding Kenji of himself when torturing someone. "Because you wont live to tell about it!"  
_

Aidan, unlike the others, had a rather complicated way of dealing with the base. He placed powerful explosives at key stress points in the base, since sneaking in was easy for him. The explosives were powerful, but not all that special. Nightshade mixed with a few nirnroots, added with a small dose of volatile magic, and voila. Aidan managed to set a delayed timer on it. He easily set the explosives and destroyed the base rather easily. The base toppled in on itself, a sight that Aidan found somewhat fun to watch. Kuro and Kenji had rubbed off on him just enough to give him a lack of feeling at the deaths of his enemies.

As Aidan watched the building fall apart, he was surprised to see a single person standing on top of the rubble. The man rather reminded him of Alex, but he put that thought aside, charging at the man with his sword. As he approached the man, the man vanished. He turned just in time to block the man's blade. 'A teleporter, judging from the fact he didnt attack me at the same speed. shit...'  
_

Aela and Farkas had already slaughtered their base, no one appeared to be strong, and as such they were on their way to the agreed meeting point. When they arrived at the tavern, they werent surprised to see Zero and Daos there already. They had the least to deal with probably. Farkas nodded at Zero, who, like him, was a large and muscular nord. "You already finished?" Zero spoke, surprised.

Farkas nodded. "Yeah, no one strong."

Aela chuckled once. "strong? they were weaker than the average bandits. I'd say we got the recruits."

Zero chuckled. "We didnt get much, about twenty, none of them worth notice."

Daos frowned. Daos was a Kahjit who studied the arcane. "which worries me."

Farkas also frowned. "why is that worrying?"

Aela's eyes widened. "That means the leaders are at the other bases.. and if what we fought were recruits..."

Zero's eyes widened as well. "we've got to go help the others."

Daos nodded. "I'll get the east, Zero, get the North, Farkas, go for the west, Aela go to the south" Although Daos wasnt the leader of the secondary group, he was surely the most strategic. Of course, Kuro and Alex could easily trump him in that, but his word was still wise to Aela, Farkas and Zero. They each nodded and headed in their own way.  
_

Kuro coughed. Zane had already stabbed and sliced him too many times to count. He had brought down the termporal ward, since everyone was dead aside from him and Zane. Zane was definitely not trying to escape, that was for sure. Kuro frowned, pointing two fingers at Zane, shooting out a beam of lightning. Zane easily dodged, not as fast as Kuro though. Zane was instantly at Kuro, launching him into the air with a kick. Kuro hardly had time to think as Zane continuously punched his chest, causing him to cough up blood. Kuro landed on his back, Zane walking slowly towards him.

"Pathetic, I thought you'd at least put up a fight." Zane spoke emotionlessly.

"However weak I am, your little Blood Bandits are weaker." Kuro laughed, ignoring the pain. Kuro knew he was good at hand to hand, but Zane had utterly destroyed him in it. Zane wasnt as fast, but he was fast enough to keep up, and much stronger.

"My blood bandits? These rats are not mine, the research material was all I came here for, and you already destroyed most of it. As such, the price is blood." Zane said. Kuro was begining to enjoy how blunt Zane was, if not for the blunt fists that had beaten him.

"Very well... then I guess I have to use it.." Kuro frowned. He hated using Temporal Transition. He curled his hand into a claw and smashed it into his own chest, enveloping him in a strange black glow. Kuro healed some of the damage, while Zane charged at him. Zane was mildly impressed when his attacks literaly went through Kuro, not damaging him at all.

"Interesting, a Phase technique?" Zane noted.

Kuro chuckled. "Yeah, not mastered yet, but certainly not weak, enough to let me restore my body to fighting condition."

Zane nodded. "It would be stupid for me to attack then." Kuro chuckled again. "I see you havent added any effect yet."

Kuro frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Zane raised an eyebrow uncaringly. "The last person I fought with a technique like this made it so that when anyone came too close, it caught fire. Lasted five minutes against me."

Kuro smirked. The healing was helping now. "Impressive, more of a defensive fighter rather than an offensive, right."

Zane nodded. "He was. I do admit, he was troublesome, but after his phase wore off he was just another weakling."

Kuro coughed. "Well, I'm done with the phase for now, shall we continue?"

Zane didnt answer, instead, jumping into the air and spinning forward, foot outstretched. Kuro saw the leg coming towards him and smirked. Kuro grabbed the leg before it hit him, and used the force of the fall to slam Zane into the ground. Zane was stunned long enough for Kuro to launch a larger electrical beam. It wouldnt kill him, but it would damage his nerves so he couldnt move easily for a while. Kuro coughed and fell, feeling the effects of using the Temporal transition. It took quite a bit of magic, and healing while he did it was not helpful.

Kuro frowned as Zane stood up, damaged, but not much.

Zane seemed to smile, but it was so unnoticable that Kuro thought it was an illusion. "I see... You directly attacked my nerves knowing they take longer to heal than other damage... good, maybe you arent as pathetic as I thought."

Kuro chuckled. "Well that Draknen wasnt wrong when he said you were strong. Looks like a stalemate almost, too bad I have one last trick up my sleeve."

Zane's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Ortego sent you?"

Kuro nodded. "I guess, if he is the Draknen... Your a spy for him, arent you?" He noticed that Zane wasnt a vampire like the rest.

Zane nodded. "Good deduction skills too. I suppose I cant kill you then... however, I must be repaid for my research, so lets finish this."

Kuro smirked. "I think I like you." Kuro brought his hands together, condensing his magicka. The magicka in his hands turned red, the inside sparking with electricity. The electricity was strangely red.

Zane held one hand forward, black magicka charging on his palm.

The let loose their attacks at the same time. "Positive Shock!" Kuro called out.

Zane mentally shrugged at the idea of naming an attack like this. Zane called out his attack. "Dark energy blast." It wasnt very original, but it was certainly powerful.

As the two attacks hit each other, a large explosion shook the area. Kuro shielded his face with his arms, frowning. The explosion happened right as the attacks hit, but it should have happened after... Kuro jumped to the side just in time to dodge a claw aimed at his heart. The dust cleared rather fast, showing Zane doing the same. Inbetween the two, a robed figure stood, with only his arm uncovered.

"Impressive... you two will make perfect generals." The figure smirked. Both the fighters stayed silent. "However... The others must die first."

Kuro's eyes widened. "No!" He launched an electrical beam at the figure, but he had already vanished. "Shit! I've got to go help the others."

Zane glanced at him. "I'll help."

Kuro raised his eyebrow. "Why?"

"Nothing better to do, you destroyed my labs, and I find this situation most interesting." Zane spoke evenly. Kuro could detect some small level of amusement from Zane, but ignored it.

"Kuro are you alright?" Aela's voice wrung out.

"Yeah, we've got to go help the others." Kuro said.

Aela frowned. "What of him?" She pointed at Zane

"Its not polite to point" Zane pointed out.

Kuro snorted. "Definitely going to like you. He's on our side Aela, go ahead with him, I've got to rest up a bit." Kuro glanced at Zane, meeting each other's eyes.

Aela nodded stiffly. They left without pause.

Kuro frowned. "You can come out now."  
_

Alex panted. Madu's skin was hard enough so far to block not only arrows, but steel swords as well, though they may have been dulled from their constant use against the weaker bandits. Alex frowned. Madu hadnt really attacked him, merely countering any attack Alex launched. That was probably good though. Madu was definitely strong, and with his daimond hard skin, Alex wasnt willing to risk it. Alex mentally ran through the soft spots he had hit already. Abdomen, check. Neck, check. Thighs, check. Arms, check. Hell even his ears were daimond hard. His damn ears! Alex finally smiled. He knew what he had to do.

Madu watched with some amount of boredom as Alex finally smiled. So he had figured it out had he? Too bad, this was getting funny. Madu walked forward, smirking. "So you've figured out the weakness eh? Oh well, that just means I have to finish this fast."

Alex smirked. So there was a weakness then. He gave off a small shudder as the magic, or whatever it was, finally reacted. His chest expanded, followed by an intense feeling of pain on his heart. He was used to the pain by now.

Madu blinked as Alex let loose a howl, followed soley by the thought 'Oh shit...'

Madu didnt have a chance to move as Alex's new werewolf claws tore his skin. Madu flinched backwards, dodging another claw.

Alex pounced on him, biting his neck. It was a usually fatal area, but he doubted it would kill this strangely invulnerable vampire. He tasted strange, the texture of the area was like dust, but the taste was indescribable. Madu finally managed to push Alex off of him, and coughed. "Not bad puppy. I'd say your good, being able to use two transformations a day..."

Alex growled and ran at him, slashing as he passed. Madu coughed again, as the skin on his abdomen fell off. That wouldnt do. He would dehydrate fast if he didnt fix it soon. Fortunately, he had enough time to kill the werewolf and make it to a healer. Alex ran at him again, slashing at his abdomen. Madu slid to the right, dodging the angry werewolf.

'damnit this isnt working, I dont have much time left.' Madu looked Alex in the eye and smirked. Alex's eyes widened. 'thats it!' Alex ran at the vampire once more, and slashed at his chest. Madu blocked, removing some of the skin from his arm. Madu frowned. He couldnt keep this up, but looking at Alex, he knew that Alex hadnt mastered secondary transformations, which meant he would be transforming back anytime now.

Alex jumped back, flashing as he turned back to normal. He skidded slightly, bending and using his hand to slow down. He stood back up and drew his bow, with the dagger still attached. He smirked, setting two arrows on his bow. He launched the two. Madu blocked one which was headed at his stomach, but ignored the other, it was towards his head. Madu screamed in pain as the arrow went through his left eye and killed him.

Alex chuckled. That was fun, but it was disturbing. Someone had enhanced the vampire. Alex had fought master vampires before, even they didnt have that kind of endurance. He need to tell Kurokon, hopefully he could find out how. Alex was smart, sure, but he wasnt a mage, and he certainly wasnt Kuro. Alex looked down, feeling pain in his abdomen. Blood. Had Madu hit him? No... he was sure of it.

A cold laugh came from behind him. "You survived the first, congrats, I honestly expected you to die... too bad." Alex turned, and saw the figure which had white hair, a mad smirk and... daedric eyes. Alex barely had any time to dodge as the figure rushed at him.

A flash blocked Alex's sight for a moment. What he saw made him smile. A black haired man had blocked the attack. Obviously an ally. Alex fell, coughing up blood. Whatever had caused the blood had fatigued him greatly. Could it be from overuse of his transformation, or perhaps tension from his sliding halting? He didnt know, but he could tell it wasnt fatal yet. He passed out that moment.

Zane stood with a sword in his arm. The white haired figure pulled out the blade. "You betrayed your allies? no... you were never part of them... good, the boss liked you." The figure gave out a cold laugh before vanished. Zane frowned slightly, before picking Alex up, making sure not to damage him, or get blood on him. So he was making his move finally...

Zane paused and slid to the right dodging the thrown two handed axe. "Relax, I'm on your side." He spoke calmly.

"I doubt that. Who sent you?" Zero frowned.

Aela dropped down next to Zane, panting. "You dont know the meaning of restraint do you?" Zane had outrun her by far.

Zane raised his eyebrow. "Not my fault your slow."

Zero frowned. "Alright lets go get a healer, Alex looks like he needs it." He wasnt about to argue seeing as Aela was there, and seemed to be bantering with Zane almost friendly. They headed for the tavern, with Zane leading silently.  
_

Kenji laughed at Jvad's regenerating form. They had been fighting for a while now. Jvad had shown him his incredible regeneration, after about twenty three deaths. After that, he spent most of the time dodging Jvad's magical blasts. Appearently Jvad had a love for fire, similar to Kuro's love for lightning. Kenji had dodged all but one, but that one had burned his arm bad. He definitely could use some healing now. Kenji was usually not much for planning, but after twenty three fatal hits, he knew he needed a plan. He was by no means stupid, but he hated planning things out.

Jvad was appearently enraged after Kenji had slammed the hammer into his pelvis. Kenji glanced around and frowned. Then he saw it... Kenji dived to the left, grabbing a tile as he did so. He threw it at Jvad, who simply caught it. Jvad exploded, nothing remained. Kenji was now even more burned. He coughed slightly, and got out a potion that Aidan had made before. It was a simple healing potion, so it would help the burn, but it did taste ungodly. Kenji frowned as most of the damage vanished.

Kenji laid back and relaxed, waiting for the group to come. He knew they would. Call it a Deadric Lord's intuition. A blast envolped the area where he had laid down. When the dust cleared, he wasnt there anymore.

Twenty feet from the explosion was a robed figure. "Impressive." He spoke before Kenji slit his throat. "definitely impressive" He spoke after Kenji slit his throat.

Kenji frowned. "another regenerator?"

The figure laughed. "No, check your blade now."

Kenji slowly pulled the blade away, inspecting it. The blade was dull, almost to the point of uselessness. "Stone Skin?"

The figure shook his head. "Try again."

Kenji narrowed his eyes. "giant rabbit?"

The figure paused. "What?" He spoke confusedly.

Kenji slammed his hammer into the figure's head. "I HATE RABBITS!" He roared out, repeatedly slamming the hammer into the figure. The figure finally fell, blue blood pooling by the body.

Kenji smirked. "Dumbass let his guard down. Oh well, dead now." He turned just as Daos arrived. "Why hello there! Your late arent ya?"

Daos shrugged. "You looked like you had it handled."

Kenji rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, now heal me." Daos nodded and began healing Kenji.  
_

Aidan dodged yet another attack from the teleporting man. He twisted again, dodging another blade. The bastard seemed to have five arms with the number of blades Aidan had already dodged. Aidan jumped back, only to duck as the assailant attacked from behind again. He was begining to notice the pattern, but barely had time to do anything about it. Admittedly, both Aidan and the teleporting man were tiring. Aidan had begun using less tiring dodges, and began countering any attacks he could, which wasnt many.

Aidan coughed as a blade cut his chest, the first blood. He hated when that happened. Aidan twisted again and managed to kick the man in his face. Aidan twisted around, shoving his sword directly behind him, laughing when the teleporter appeared there, with the blade in his lung. Aidan spat out blood as the teleporter's blade pierced his stomach. Not a fatal injury, at least not for someone with decent restoration prowess. Aidan pulled himself off the blade, groaning as he did so. The teleporter was already dead, appearently having already had breathing problems, and no real ability to hold his breath, probably had something to do with his teleportation.

Aidan sighed in relief as he healed himself. He turned, hearing footsteps. "Hey Farkas." Aidan smiled.

Farkas glanced around at the rubble, impressed. "Nice job, you deal with the big one yet?"

Aidan nodded. He meant the boss of the operation of course. "Yeah, not much of a big deal really." He smiled.

Farkas nodded. "come on, lets meet up with the others." _

It wasnt long before everyone had arrived at the tavern. By the time Kenji and Aidan arrived, Alex was being healed by Kuro. Everyone sat down, except Alex who was resting. They had finished discussing what happened to them, before going to the questions on everyone's minds.

Aidan started off. "So... to ask whats on everyone's mind, who is he" He pointed at Zane, ignoring his response that it wasnt polite to point. "Why did you bring that body" He pointed at the body of the man Kenji had killed. "And what happened to Alex?"

Kuro sighed. "Firstly, his name is Zane Hataro, he was appearently a spy for Ortego, the Draknen. Second, the body is to see what allowed these strange powers to activate in such individuals. Lastly... Alex was poisoned by someone. The poison seemed to make the skin permeable and lessen the density of the blood, which is why he was bleeding without a wound. Now, any other questions?"

Aela spoke up this time, surprising Kuro. "how is it possible that they" She pointed at the robed figure's body. "were able to survive such numerous and various fatal injuries?"

Kuro was interupted by Zane. "I'll explain. The robed men were actually much like atranoches. In essence, they are litteraly made of magicka, allowing them total immunity to most non magicka injuries. The reason Kenji's hammer was able to harm them was the slight daedric energy going into it, and the enchantments on it."

Kenji frowned. "And what of the other abilities?"

"That's easy" Alex spoke walking down from his room. His midsection was covered in bandages. "magical constructs should have some ability of attack and defence, whoever made them wanted to kill us, and frankly, we got lucky. We were unprepared and uninformed."

Zane glanced at Alex. "That was the goal."

Kuro narrowed his eyes. "what do you mean?"

"The Lunar Man ordered the creation of many magical constructs, we only completed the third one when you had attacked. He knew you would be attacking and stopped us before. Strange, One of them was missing." Zane spoke.

The group frowned in thought. The Lunar man? Zane spoke no more on it, explaining he only knew the figure wore a robe and was incredibly intelligent. _

Ortego waved as the armada set sail, with Kuro's ship in the lead. Zane was leading the expidition to Tamriel. Ortego hoped that it would be prosperous after the little war. He had no idea that "the little war" wasnt that little. He had an unfortunate habit of undermining other's problems.

Kuro smiled, feeling the air on his face. "I guess this is it, huh?"

Alex, Aidan, Kenji and Zane stood near him. "We knew it would come to this..." Alex smiled.

Aidan nodded. "But it just feels... so strange."

Zane spoke up. "its the fear, mixing with excitement and happiness. Fear of what you've missed, excitement from the battles to come, and happiness from you being able to do something about it all."

Kenji laughed. "I sure hope this is exciting! Its the second great war for gods' sake!"

"Prepare yourselves guys... three weeks, and we will wage war like no other." Alex spoke.

Kuro smiled, staring out toward where they were headed. None of them had any idea of what would come from their adventures... But they would face it like everything else.


	5. AN

**I know I havent been active lately, but Ive had... problems. Anyway, Ive decided to rewrite this completely. Sorry guys, but I lost the direction I planned for this fic, so... Well look on the bright side, Ill be rewriting it. The rewrite will be a tad more serious, dramatic, and realistic. For the most part, everything will be... mostly different. I look forward to writing the new version, hopefully it will get a bit more attention haha. **

**Sorry, but thats that.**


End file.
